#truewhite

[asianlatinachick]

I was really inspired by this video that I was watching from TrueWhiteAllies founder and what struck me in one of their videos was a story of Elizabeth Heyrick, who was an abolitionist that used her privilege to fight against gradual abolitionism which was a line of thinking that sought to portray enslaved Africans as needing to “learn” to be free, which is so dehumanizing. Basically, gradual abolitionism wanted to emancipate enslaved African Americans after a certain age, and not immediately. Elizabeth Heyrick fought back against that frame of thinking by advocating for the boycott of sugar that was produced with enslaved African labor, and many people supported those efforts. Her message was focused on how can we abolish slavery NOW, not later. What can we do NOW?

Because her calls for boycotting sugar produced by enslaved labor made a huge impact and had much support, she was able to fundraise and used her privilege to withhold fundraising donations from the Anti-Slavery Society, if members did not agree to ultimate emancipation NOW and not emancipation through gradual abolishment. Because Elizabeth Heyrick had access to these fundraising efforts which was a fifth of this budget, it was successful and the group decided not to support gradual abolition. This is a huge accomplishment because it forced women during that time to take a stance specifically for emancipation NOW. Taking this stance helped support the movement of emancipation.

In the TrueWhiteAllies video, there was discussion of how can you fight against racism NOW, as opposed to just watching videos and being well-versed on the writings of anti-racism. How can we fight back with our actions and do something tangible?

Which leads me to a story I thought I should share.

Being someone who has been in and out of mental hospitals and specifically because in the past I’ve struggled with finding a safe living situation, I believe that it has changed my viewpoint towards those who are struggling with homelessness to being more compassionate.

A few weeks ago, I was driving around LA because I wanted to go to a Black Lives Matter meeting in Los Angeles.

It was hard to find a motel that had vacant rooms, so I stayed in my car.

I won’t get into too many details because they are personal and I still struggle with the experience of being mentally ill, but basically

I saw a Black woman who was walking in the Crenshaw Inn parking lot in the middle of the night. To protect her privacy, I’ll call her Ella.

I felt compelled to ask her if she needed a place to stay, being that I had money and I felt extremely privileged that I had a car to sleep in.

Long story short, I looked up homeless shelters that might be open in that hour and none of the resources that I called were answering or available to shelter someone at that hour.

So I suggested that there was a homeless shelter near where I live, which seemed to be a well maintained place, and that I would park outside in the driveway and wait with her till the morning in my car until they opened.

We drove about an hour to where I live in Pomona and something told me that my mom would be okay with having her stay there.

My parents were upset and overwhelmed, but my dad ultimately asked if she had family she could get in touch with, and said he would offer anything she needed to get to her family.

Her family was in Texas.

My parents welcomed her as if she was a guest, and my mom told her she was welcome to take a shower, wear some clean clothes, eat if she was hungry, and to stay in our guest bedroom, which had a lot of clothes, and I had slept in the bed a few days before, but it was presentable enough, as much as we could have made it be in that time.

The next morning, we went to the mental health clinic that I get my meds from, and asked them if they had advice for what we could do or to help her find resources such as potentially social security benefits or going to the hospital. They couldn’t offer too much advice, because a lot of it was out of their scope. (Which I know is a problem with social services in this country, because I personally feel that social services dealing with mental health and homelessness should offer more hands-on care)

But we went to the homeless shelter that was nearby that I had originally suggested to her, and while we were there I was so grateful that there was a Black woman and man to assist us with getting in touch with her family. This made me feel more comfortable because I felt they would be trustworthy and sensitive to her needs.

They contacted one of her family members, who was living in Texas, and we basically arranged with the help of the workers at the homeless shelter to book her a flight, which her family member said she would reimburse us with money for it.

Personally, I felt that it would have been okay for my parents to pay for the ticket, which was $400, but it wasn’t my money, and her family said they would pay for the ticket.

All in all, I was just happy that she got to get back to her family.

During the 2 days that she spent with us, my parents bought her food, and even allowed her to smoke medicinal marijuana in our backyard and front yard to help with her health conditions.

I gave her some clothes she said that she liked, and we dropped her off to the airport.

Reflecting back, and even during the time this was happening, I felt this was a truly revolutionary act. It felt kind of crazy, in a good way, that my parents were so open and welcoming to this woman who we had never met before, nor were expecting to be in our home.

It warmed my spirit to see my mom being kind and motherly towards a Black woman in need. I still keep in touch with Ella and have encouraged her to get a bank account so that I could send her some cash that she could get a phone with.

I want to say that I am happy that I was able to help just ONE Black women in need this way.

I think the things that I want to make sure you get from this post is that I do not and WILL NOT take credit for helping her, because I feel like it’s saying that I cured her problem. I did not cure her problem, which was finding a safe place to stay. All I did was give her physical shelter and monetary support during the time that she stayed with us, and tried to treat her with the care that I would give to any guest who spent time in my parent’s home. I also feel that this one simple act is not enough. It is not enough.

Because of my experiences in the mental health system, and seeing how people are treated, I feel that it is a humbling experience to help a Black woman in need. And I still feel it is an obligation that I probably will never live up to or be perfect at.

But it is important to let a story like this be told, so that it can inspire us to ASK OURSELVES HOW CAN WE SUPPORT BLACK LIVES AND BE ANTI RACIST?

I think of the privilege I have, that I have a car and a place to stay. Yes I have mental and emotional difficulties but I am so grateful and fortunate for the things that I have. That I have a family who is willing to let me stay with them, that I had a cell phone and camera, that I have access to the internet, that I have education. That I have some knowledge on how to help support a Black woman who doesn’t have a place to stay for the night.

I do not want to take credit, but I want to urge you to start thinking of the ways that you can support BLACK LIVES. I think when you don’t have the knowledge, on how to do it, the best you can do is donate your funds to an organization such as Black Lives Matter, that supports BLACK LIVES.

I also think based off of my experience, something you could do would be to give money or offer shelter to a Black person who asks for it, or maybe looks like they are struggling as I did when I saw her walking in the middle of the night by herself.

And I want to be clear that the reason why I asked her is because I was in a new place where I couldn’t find any vacancies at a local motel, and I felt like I was kind of scared to be alone too.

Please don’t assume that Black people or homeless people are “used to it” or that they don’t need it as much as you do. They need it too, if not more than you. Actually, I believe they need shelter, food, financial resources, and emotional, mental, physical and spiritual resources more but I don’t think I have the capacity to explain that in an eloquent way, or a perfect way. But what I will explain is that Black Lives need and desire sensitivity, care, compassion and most of all, PROTECTION. The kind you would extend to a guest that you deeply cherish, respect and honor is the type of care that I think we need to give, BUT WE NEED TO PROTECT BLACK LIVES THE WAY WE PROTECT OUR CHILDREN, AND LOVED ONES. And the way we protect those with positions of power, the way we protect those who have money, the way we protect those who have protection, and we need to do it more and better than that.

I know you fucking heard that and felt that. It it SO IMPORTANT.

And this is where I think it’s important to recognize that if you live in the USA or any other first world country, and you’re white or middle class, or not Black, you have privileges that you take for granted that people in other countries or living situations don’t.

I really think more people need to speak on this.

Things like access to shelter, clean water, excess of clothes, education, libraries, cell phones, food, money, space, time, toilets, showers, toilet paper, personal hygiene, medicine, organic food. These are things that many people do not have and it is the norm for them to not have it, and in the US, it is the norm for people to have it.

It’s so important to support people who are more vulnerable and marginalized than you.

This is my story, and it’s just ONE story. Can you imagine how differently things would be if we had millions and millions of these stories?

PLEASE USE YOUR ENERGY AND EFFORTS to make positive changes in other people’s lives.

People need you. You have no idea.

[bewitchyabeauty]

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Loving the blues

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[vanslovedc]

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[derv-berk-blog]

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[bewitchyabeauty]

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[trudjs]

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[pandaab27-blog]

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[ibethecool]

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