Black and Indigenous folks from Latin America are very familiar with the anti-Black, anti-Indigenous language Nury Martinez used. We aren't surprised- we hear it from politicians, media, at the grocery store, in school, for some of us, in our own families. Listen to us. I'm tired of repeating that "Black and Latino are not mutually exclusive", or that "Latino identity does not make you anti-racist", or that "the myth and material consequences of mestizaje is harmful to liberation of Black and Indigenous folks from/in Latin America."

Can I offer a piece of insight for #Philanthropy in this moment? Repro justice organizations that you've paid no attention to for the last decade don't need you to swoop in with a sense of crisis today. Organizers knew/know what's at stake—no need to manufacture urgency. (1/5) As a rapid response fund, we see this in moments of heightened crisis. What often happens is that funders without relationships to organizers end up doing more harm by funding larger, well-known organizations, bombarding organizers with requests for briefings + meetings (2/5)

our 10-month old baby tested positive for COVID today. words cannot describe the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I saw the test results this morning. so that I don’t fall into a pit of despair, I’m going to keep a running thread about COVID in babies. (thread) 👉🏾 there is so little data and information about babies as young as ours, so it really feels like we are figuring it out as we go. have any other parents or caregivers had the experience of caring for a baby under 1 with COVID? I’d love to know what you have learned!

I saw a very goofy IG reel of a light skinned Afro-Latina complaining that as a "half Black, half Puerto Rican woman", she wasn't "Black enough" for Black people but wasn't Latina enough because she doesn't speak Spanish. Me tiene harta. 🥴 First of all, for the millionth time, saying you are "half Black, half [insert Latin American nationality here]" is an act of anti-Black erasure. Black is a race, Puerto Rican is a nationality. There are literal, unambiguously, definitively Black people in Puerto Rico RIGHT NOW.

When you're Afro-Latina from Miami, you are deeply familiar with the racism, white supremacy, classism, anti-Blackness, individualism and disdain of socialism (while benefiting from it) that emboldens Miami Cubans to act a fool like this. the selfishness and lack of solidarity +

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1323861306215157760

with other immigrants and refugees is hard to watch. yet, Cubans make up 9 of 10 people in Miami receiving welfare set aside for refugees. While other immigrants are barred from collecting aid for their first five years and undocumented folks are not eligible at all. Where many +

I just had my first COVID-19 test done today in Prince George's County, MD. I have no symptoms, and have been seriously quarantining and socially distancing since March - only masked outdoor activities in small groups, no travel, no eating out, etc. A THREAD. #COVID19 I am also very immunocompromised, including having a high risk of inflammation-related disorders and asthma, among other things (which overlap with COVID-19) which has made me extra nervous. ok, COVID-19 testing pros:

No line!
Drive-up COVID test!
Testers were really nice!

This week the White House issued an Executive Order "Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping" stating that federal contractors and grantees may no longer teach that "the United States is fundamentally racist or sexist;" Thanks @danyelletbw, for sharing this.

whitehouse.gov/presidential-a… ok, but to defend the Union against what? THE ENSLAVEMENT OF BLACK PEOPLE UPON WHICH THIS NATION WAS BUILT. This entire EO is proving the necessity of anti-racist education by citing laws that were created *specifically because* people didn't have equal access.

I have so much to say about the news coming out that ICE has been performing forced sterilizations on detainees. 1. Activists have been begging us, especially our anti-violence movements, to pay attention to sexual and reproductive violence faced by women, trans and cis and queer folks in detention for years. Now is the time to be making to connections between patriarchal violence and all forms of imprisonment. we have to abolish ICE and abolish prisons or we will never end sexual and reproductive violence. 2. Black immigrants of all nationalities are

my dad called and asked me what I was up to. I said “peeling sweet potatoes for Sunday dinner” and he said “what you making? some kind of soufflé?” and I said, no, ACTUALLY we’re making greens, mac and cheese, potato salad, fried chicken, candied yams and peach cobbler. 😩 he says “OK I SEE YOU” just like that. I say “is there anything missing from the menu?” he’s like, “cornbread would be nice.” and guess what? we got that too. AND I’m making sweet tea. I feel like I am making my dad, and my rural Central Alabama roots proud.

Jessica Krug is a white woman, who has been lying for years about Blackness, including saying she's AfroLatina - gaining her social currency, book deals, and tenure in Black studies. all the jobs, grants, space she has stolen from Black women sickens me. medium.com/@jessakrug/the… y'all want to be Black SO BAD. without having to deal with the lived experience and reality and trauma and cosmic weight of Blackness day in and day out. Black women in academia, and all the folks who have been hurt by her really deserve to grieve and experience their anger.

nine years ago today, I moved back to the US from South Korea after living in Yeongcheon for almost two years. I cried the entire plane ride home and a sweet ajumma next to me hugged me, gave me snacks and let me sob. I still miss Korea all the time. 💕 I existed in this complicated confluence of imperialism (I was teaching English) mixed with global anti-Blackness (I was assumed not to be American or speak proficient English. Often.). But I was lead teacher at a small rural English school, and when I left, my principal said +

I’m seeing terrible hot takes about the word #Latinx. there are:

-Black Latinas saying that “Latinx” (but not Latina/o? 🤔) erases Blackness.
-white + non-Black Latinos complaining about destroying spanish.
-and ahistorical folks saying Latinx is too academic.

(thread) YES, of course Latina/o/x erases Blackness. the *literal entire project of Latinidad* is meant to flatten and erase Blackness. but be consistent. if you’re going to call yourself Afro-Latina/o, let trans, nonbinary, queer folks have langauge to describe our/their experiences.

I wondered why I was feeling uneasy today and remembered this is the 11-year anniversary of the time I quit a job at a grassroots sex worker organization after one week, was asked to stay, quit after a month, and then had to go to the EEOC to get paid. friends (long thread). 😭 I came to the organization after working at my local rape crisis center, where I'd managed all of the city's crisis hotline and hospital accompaniment programs, and training hundreds of volunteers on crisis intervention with survivors. I loved my job, but it was very demanding +

IDK anyone in DC who bought a house in the last 10 years without family support (including parents paying for college so fewer loans, or living with parents rent free), unless they used a first time homebuyer’s program or program like NACA (which we used). how did you buy in DC? I just wish folks would be honest about this as we talk about economic access. Most people aren’t telling y’all that their parents helped them with the down payment, or they got a large sum of money from a family member, or a trust, and it reinforces the idea of bootstraps.

I’m interested in the amount of people invested in the mystery of E*stein’s case, who don’t even believe the survivors of child sexual abuse in their own households, families and communities. It seems easier to conceptualize a far-off thriller than reckon with reality of CSA + and the reality is that most (95%) of us are sexually abused by our own family members and family networks, and if (big if) or when we disclose, many of us are not believed and the abuse is minimized. I want us to take trafficking and abuse seriously while +

just remembered that a problematic white woman who weaponized her tears, undermined Black women and pushed EVERY. SINGLE. WOC on her team out at a "social justice" organization still has a job in leadership. junior woc staff are not collateral for badly-behaved white women. I have seen this so many times. white women in leadership terrorize and gaslight women of color staff, and the organization does what?

– offers white woman coaching/leadership development
– creates performance improvement plan
– allows her to hire/fire with impunity

In March, my friend, Nkiru and I published a 25-page chapter in the Handbook of Interpersonal Violence "Future Directions in Advocacy in Response to Interpersonal Violence" where we talk about policing, social services, and state + interpersonal violence. link.springer.com/referenceworke… We wrote this before widespread calls to #DefundMPD and mainstream engagement w/ concepts of #abolition, but what I think this writing does is set the groundwork for why divestment from the state (including social services and any anti-violence programs that engage with police) +

Two Black trans women were violently taken away from our community this week by patriarchal violence and white supremacy, and we cannot be silent about the fact that #BlackTransLivesMatter. Their names were Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells and Riah Milton. #SayHerName They should still be here and we have to fight for folks while they’re still alive, which means fighting for housing, healthcare, safe communities, abolition, decrim, and dismantling patriarchal violence in our communities *and in ourselves.* #BlackTransLivesMatter

curious to see how anti-trafficking organizations who say #BlackLivesMatter are going to handle the demands by Black folks for abolition [that Black sex workers have been asking for through organizing around the decriminalization of sex work for years]. #DecrimNow Black sex workers and survivors have been saying that increased policing harms us and our communities, and anti-trafficking organizations, including the ones who *say they care* about Black lives, ignored us. but there's no way around it—the people want #AbolitionNow! #DecrimNow

my dad served in Vietnam but spent most of his time in Germany. He went to war at 18 from rural Alabama, where he was targeted- like poor Black, brown, and poor white folks often are in military recruitment. as the oldest son, he sent money home to care for his siblings- /thread the military was touted as a "way out of poverty" (his words) and a meritocracy. it also gave him the ability to care for his family and the illusion of security and economic stability. my dad is *clear* that if he'd felt like he had other options, he would have chosen them-

the amount of messages I have gotten from non-Black people asking me for things right now...

“can you share/RT/send this...”
“we have some urgent...”
“can we coordinate...”

without checking in, asking how I am, or acknowleding this moment, is so dehumanizing + anti-Black. Black women are not your mules. we are holding a lot, while trying to organize, trying to coordinate, trying to be safe, trying to gather support and resources. don’t slide into our inboxes unless you’re coming correct. if you jump directly to an ask, I’m pressing delete.