Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #BlackDisabledLivesMatter
Most recents (19)
Please elevate the story of #EngraciaFigueroa, a disabled Afro-Latina woman who died from injuries sustained by not having her wheelchair after @united destroyed hers. This is a #BlackLivesMatter issue. Anti- ableism must be part of our work.
newsweek.com/disability-act…
newsweek.com/disability-act…
Neglect is harmful yall! Removing the things we need to live is violent, disabled or not. It is allowing our death while blaming our bodyminds for being what they are. I’ve only seen #DisabilityTwitter folks talking about this & many not using #BLM but #BlackDisabledLivesMatter!
More information on #EngraciaFigueroa here:
February 2021 is Black Disabled Empowerment in Higher Ed Month (#BlackDEHEM). After #DEHEM last October, we thought it was time to focus on the intersection of race & disability. We will be taking a break from our general content for the month. (1/2)
We are very excited to share the thoughts & experiences of those that live at the intersection of Black & Disabled.
#BlackDEHEM (2/2)
#BlackDEHEM (2/2)
Bonus: We want to thank all our followers, supporters, & members of our community for helping us create this space - no matter your background. We recognize that we have this space & thus we should take what time we can to talk about the inequities that exist (1/2)
It is our honor to announce that Black Disabled Empowerment in Higher Education Month #BlackDEHEM will be beginning tomorrow
This #BlackHistoryMonth, we celebrate you. This week, we start with @azdisabilitylaw center’s free African American Conference on Disability tomorrow 1/
This #BlackHistoryMonth, we celebrate you. This week, we start with @azdisabilitylaw center’s free African American Conference on Disability tomorrow 1/
You can learn more about this conference here: mailchi.mp/azdisabilityla…
@azdisabilitylaw has made all 11 sessions have CART & ASL Interpretation Services available.
The 1st session is tomorrow at 10-11am Mountain time.
Use #BlackDEHEMConference to live tweet during sessions 2/
@azdisabilitylaw has made all 11 sessions have CART & ASL Interpretation Services available.
The 1st session is tomorrow at 10-11am Mountain time.
Use #BlackDEHEMConference to live tweet during sessions 2/
If you want to get involved in #BlackDEHEM, please retweet our event if you are an ally.
If you are Black and Disabled, we want to hear your story. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
We are looking for takeovers for our event, please consider filling out this form. 3/
If you are Black and Disabled, we want to hear your story. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
We are looking for takeovers for our event, please consider filling out this form. 3/
Thank you again @riley_ilyse for inviting me to guest lecture in your course. Speaking on intersectionality and inclusion on disability in higher ed was amazing. Watching a Zoom webinar afterwords of an Angela Davis event, the joy turned to despair as disability was left out. 1/
There is a Black healing space afterwords, but there is no healing in those spaces for me. I mention Black and Disabled. I have said words that don’t belong together, that don’t make sense, that evokes a reality that they don’t want to realize. We don’t fit in that truth 2/
Black people are raised up strong and resilient because of everything we face in racism. Brought over as slaves we work twice as hard to get the same rights and opportunities as white people. I work twice as hard because I am a woman, yet 3/
For at least the third time since Labor Day, police in Pennsylvania have shot people of color who were in the midst of a mental health crisis.
On Sept 13, a police officer in Lancaster shot and killed Ricardo Muñoz, a Latinx man in crisis. And police in Reading shot and wounded Roxanne Moore, a Black transgender woman.
On Monday, police in Philadelphia shot and killed Walter Wallace, Jr., a Black man in crisis.
On Monday, police in Philadelphia shot and killed Walter Wallace, Jr., a Black man in crisis.
In Lancaster and Philadelphia, family members of the victim were on the scene attempting to de-escalate their loved ones. Rather than solving the problem, police made it far, far worse, which led to tragedies.
Yesterday, Salt Lake City police shot an unarmed 13-year-old autistic boy & the Rochester chief of police stepped down amid protests over the murder of #DanielPrude, another neurodivergent Black man in crisis.
nbclosangeles.com/news/national-…
cnn.com/2020/09/08/us/… 1/
nbclosangeles.com/news/national-…
cnn.com/2020/09/08/us/… 1/
This is why we need to say #BlackDisabledLivesMatter & #BlackAutisticLivesMatter. This is why we need to make sure that disability is a part of conversations about police brutality, because it's a part of the story at least 33-50% of the time. (See rudermanfoundation.org/white_papers/m…). 2/
This is why I focused on the cases of #NeliLatson & #MatthewRushin for my first contribution to #ScholarStrike.
Because their stories are not unique.
#FreeNeli #FreeMatthewRushin #RushinToBringMatthewHome 3/
Because their stories are not unique.
#FreeNeli #FreeMatthewRushin #RushinToBringMatthewHome 3/
There are no saviors in democracy. That’s fascism (and there the promise fails).
Perfect politicians don’t create progress, because perfection does not exist.
➡️ WE secure progress w/ political partners, flawed, but who hold common values and are willing to be pushed & shaped.
Perfect politicians don’t create progress, because perfection does not exist.
➡️ WE secure progress w/ political partners, flawed, but who hold common values and are willing to be pushed & shaped.
This is a political lesson I learned a long time ago in my 22 years of working in presidential politics.
It’s what President Obama meant when he said “We are the change we seek”. Even he knew he wasn’t perfect, but he sought to be an honest partner - willing to be pushed.
It’s what President Obama meant when he said “We are the change we seek”. Even he knew he wasn’t perfect, but he sought to be an honest partner - willing to be pushed.
I’m incredibly (incredibly) excited about the Biden/Harris ticket - not because they’re perfect, but because I know them to be honest partners whom advocates can needle, cheer, criticize, strategize alongside, call out their failings, and support towards success.
Today is the last day of Disability Pride Month. We celebrate the disability activists who fought to pass the monumental Americans with Disabilities Act and honor their work by continuing the fight to expand disability rights. This is a year round struggle.
This Sunday, we marked the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This act codified important rights for people with disabilities. But the ADA in its current form is not enough to provide the disability community with the protections and resources they need.
Advocacy for the disability community cannot stop at simply expanding accessibility. We must fight to guarantee racial, social, and economic justice for all.
In the first installment of #IETheIssue, we're looking at the recent history of police violence against Black people in America and at the protest movement that has emerged since George Floyd's killing. Here's why we think that's important. ietv.co/2B9jH5d
Today is the 6th anniversary of Eric Garner's death. His mother @RealGwenCarr spoke to @Mayanyani about his legacy, and George Floyd's devastatingly similar death. "I had this feeling like, ‘no, this is not happening again.'" #IETheIssue ietv.co/3jbgG5n
.@johannacli, @vixmarin and @zeeaabdo asked a dozen Black Americans to give their oral history of this moment, with a both simple, but nuanced question: What is it like to be Black in America, and what do you hope it will mean going forward? #IETheIssue ietv.co/3hdauZ4
#BlackLivesMatter be like: stop killing us! Let us live free and in peace! Give us equity! *Sees another marginalized group* hey, hey, hey, them too, give alla dat over there too. Disabled lives? Hell yeah we care, we got them too!
#DisabledLivesMatter :
We don't care about or support Black disabled ppl, their needs or movements, we pretend they don't exist, harass them for speaking up, we know nothing about Black activism past or present, but we want them to talk about our problems and work for us
We don't care about or support Black disabled ppl, their needs or movements, we pretend they don't exist, harass them for speaking up, we know nothing about Black activism past or present, but we want them to talk about our problems and work for us
#DisabledLivesMatter shows that nonBlack disabled ppl don't care about Black ppl. You're angry that we're hypervisible, but the system is trying to destroy and silence us with shallow, performative bullshit. You demand that we talk about you and that we've had enough spotlight.
My eyes move involuntarily, each one swinging to its own music. They’ve danced this way for as long as I can remember. I can’t see it myself, but the jeering kids let me know. The adults nudging me to wear sunglasses let me know. And trolls certainly let me know. Thread 1/5
Our society criminalizes #disability. Countless books & films allege eyes reveal a person’s soul, then deliberately give the evil characters abnormal eyes. Not all of them, of course, but enough to influence the public’s perception of eyes like mine. #Ableism 2/5
The #blind community has many stories of police glancing at our eyes & immediately assuming intoxication, illegal substance use, or criminal intent. Those of us who are blind and Black face the dual forces of #ableism and racism. #BlackDisabledLivesMatter 3/5
The pops of #BlackJoy I see in demonstrations built out of pain is everything.
When I worked on a ranch, we did what we called “brush clearing” - removing thorns & stumps to clear space for life to flourish. As allies, that’s our work.
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
📸: @jtknoxroxs
When I worked on a ranch, we did what we called “brush clearing” - removing thorns & stumps to clear space for life to flourish. As allies, that’s our work.
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
📸: @jtknoxroxs
Systemic racism (sexism, ableism, etc.) restricts spaces for people to be joyous, to be themselves. Instead, a person must devote time and energy to interacting with the barriers which attempt to confine them.
Let’s create more room for joy; more room for people to just be.
Let’s create more room for joy; more room for people to just be.
And when you’re white and have white privilege, or have privilege from another aspect of your life, that becomes a powerful tool to use.
“Wait...I have a brand new tractor I can use to clear the obstacles from this land? Great! Let’s put it to use.”
“Wait...I have a brand new tractor I can use to clear the obstacles from this land? Great! Let’s put it to use.”
A lot of the black lives we’re fighting for justice for have disabilities.
Many in the black community do not identify as disabled people, despite absolutely qualifying as such, because a history of eugenics and race science sought to diagnose blackness as a
Many in the black community do not identify as disabled people, despite absolutely qualifying as such, because a history of eugenics and race science sought to diagnose blackness as a
Disability as a method if subjugation. If you treated blackness like a disability you could “treat” it under the medical model of disability.
Therefore, for many black people, identifying as “disabled” means accepting the ableist characteristics whiteness tried to place
Therefore, for many black people, identifying as “disabled” means accepting the ableist characteristics whiteness tried to place
Upon our bodies like low intelligence, bahavioral problems, lack of phycisal sensibility and sensory disabilities (among many, many, others).
I feel conflicted about the way the larger movement has erased disabled people, but I know where it comes from.
We can’t force
I feel conflicted about the way the larger movement has erased disabled people, but I know where it comes from.
We can’t force
This was the back of the #BlackDisabledLivesMatter sign (designed by @jtknoxroxs this week & spreading around the world) at SF Police HQ yesterday.
I was afraid people would take my reference to #ChocolateRain as a joke. People GOT it. I wanted to honor the voice of @TayZonday.
I was afraid people would take my reference to #ChocolateRain as a joke. People GOT it. I wanted to honor the voice of @TayZonday.
That song has hit me hard this week (check out @TayZonday for a recent arrangement). It’s partly because we treated it as a meme in 2007, yet what was sung is what’s being said today. It’s what #DoTheRightThing said in 1989. It’s what’s always been said, but hasn’t been heard.
And then, after being hit with the true meaning of the song, I learned @TayZonday is both from Minneapolis and autistic.
Like @Hannahgadsby’s #Nanette (which won her an Emmy), #ChocolateRain is that sort of prophetic art only (mostly) autistic people can seem to really pull off.
Like @Hannahgadsby’s #Nanette (which won her an Emmy), #ChocolateRain is that sort of prophetic art only (mostly) autistic people can seem to really pull off.
Yesterday, over 30,000 San Franciscans marched through the streets to decry systemic racism. In that march, I carried these signs designed by @jtknoxroxs (inspired by @Imani_Barbarin).
Jen created these for you to use in your own advocacy as well. Feel free!
“But, John...”
Jen created these for you to use in your own advocacy as well. Feel free!
“But, John...”
“But, John. Where’s your selfie w/ these beautiful signs?”
Focus on the message, not me. But, I do want to share this photo of the sign carried as we passed the Castro Theater, the symbolic heart of queer San Francisco. I do that to highlight that this work is intersectional.
Focus on the message, not me. But, I do want to share this photo of the sign carried as we passed the Castro Theater, the symbolic heart of queer San Francisco. I do that to highlight that this work is intersectional.
And here it is outside the San Francisco Police Headquarters. #BlackLivesMatter #BlackDisabledLivesMatter
1/ A thread for non-Black folks.
We are all complicit in perpetuating anti-Black racism. We cannot standby and hope things will resolve themselves.
Here are resources thanks to folks who took the time to educate us.
We are all complicit in perpetuating anti-Black racism. We cannot standby and hope things will resolve themselves.
Here are resources thanks to folks who took the time to educate us.
2/ Learn about anti-racism. As professor Ibram X. Kendi writes “The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it — and then dismantle it”.
Read his book "How to Be An Anti-Racist".
Read his book "How to Be An Anti-Racist".
Thread! CW: police violence
Friends, you know I don’t share violent content often but I’m sharing video of a #MadisonWI black disabled high school student who was assaulted by police. Read the thread for the longer narrative courtesy of @AboutFreedomInc
Friends, you know I don’t share violent content often but I’m sharing video of a #MadisonWI black disabled high school student who was assaulted by police. Read the thread for the longer narrative courtesy of @AboutFreedomInc
Earlier this week, a Black high school student with a mental disability, who attends West High School, was failed by @MMSDschools and assaulted by @madisonpolice officers.
West High School staff called the cops on the Black disabled student (I haven’t heard why). The student left and went home. The cops came to the student’s home and violently arrested them. The student was cooperative, but that did not stop the violence.
#DisabilityJustice Twitter please uplift this story. A white male principal push & tore the braids out of an 11 year old black disabled girl’s head after she told him to not touch her as he was removing her from class for spraying perfume. Dane Co. DA is not pressing charges.
Here is the police report: bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/madison.com/co…
Here is the parent reaction. During the investigation the DA tried to get Child Protective Service records suggesting the mother abused her child. nbc15.com/content/news/M…
We’re at the SRO (school resource officer) review committee meeting. The committee meeting Monday was cancelled. Superintendent & FCPD Chief Roessler rejected the proposal to edit line by line & are presenting a new draft of the Memorandum of Understanding they edited themselves.
@nakasec already told us almost all of their comments/edits were rejected in this draft. Other committee members are frustrated that they’ve participated in this show but weren’t really listened to in the process. It’s a sham they call this community engagement. #NoCopsInSchools
Shirley Ginwright thanks committee members for their 52 pages of comments and edits. Says this meeting will be a walkthrough of the entire draft and then they will hear comments at the end of the meeting. #NoCopsInSchools
