Mental Health Awareness Month: Guest Blog By Krystal
As we continue our recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm excited to be using the 8123 Impact platform to share stories and experiences from members of the 8123 family.
I asked my friend, and 8123 family member Krystal if she felt comfortable sharing her perspective (as a Black woman) on how this past year has affected her mental health. Krystal is the founder of Scenes From The Underground music blog, a talented writer and an inspiring activist. I’m always grateful to her for always sharing so much with us, especially about another important and necessary topic
Read on for her blog. If you’re interested in submitting a blog for Mental Health Awareness month, please send an email to Chelsea (at) eightyonetwentythree.com
-Chelsea
T/W: talks of death
Dear White People,
We need to talk about allyship for a minute.
We are coming up on a year since we ALL saw George Floyd murdered on camera, and it’s been over a year since we lost Breonna, and Ahmaud. And it’s been BARELY a month and a half since we lost Daunte Wright, Ma’Khia Bryant, and Adam Toledo.
And if the list of those lost to bullies in badges seems to be getting longer, that’s because it is.
When I see someone’s name trending on Twitter, or see an unarmed, Black, or Brown person’s photo on Instagram with the #Saytheirname, or #blacklivesmatter tags, it reopens old trauma wounds that never fully healed properly in the first place. Because just when WE think we have begun to process our collective, and individual grief, something else awful happens. We are stuck in a constant cycle of trauma, mourning, and exhaustion that Black, Brown and other marginalized groups really understand.
Imagine a wounded animal trying to soothe another wounded animal.
Which brings me to YOUR ROLE in everything...
All of summer 2020, I, along with the rest of the world, watched millions of people take to the streets not just here in NYC, but all across the world to protest police brutality, and racism. It was an awesome, and radical show of unity amidst a global pandemic pushing for MUCH needed social change, validation of Black life, and being tired of watching folks lose their lives time and time again, I did wonder however where we would be 6-12 months after all this, and if that fire would continue burning bright.
The chants, cries, yells, and screams WERE heard, and some changes DID happen, but progress is often slow, and messy.
So my question is, are you keeping up with your anti racism work nearly a year later? Are you really pushing for diversity in ALL spaces, not because you are actually trying to check a box on paper, but because you know diversity is NECESSARY?
What books are you reading to shift your narrative? I would hope you are reading books from Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latinx, LGBTQIA, women, the AAPI community, and other groups who have been hated/oppressed throughout history for simply existing. Are you REALLY LISTENING when we talk, and tell you our experiences? Because, I’ll let you in a not-so-little secret...constantly having to fight for our humanity is not only tiring, but weighs on our mental health greatly. It’s extra emotional labor on top of a group of people continuously being beaten down by a system that was designed to do so from the very beginning.
And of course, are YOU the ones trying to educate your racist family members on why their habits, ways of thinking, and privilege are harming communities of color? And I say this with my full conviction...its ok to not only cut off toxic family members, but that includes those who are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and any other problematic behavior.
These steps aren’t the exhaustive list either. Allyship is something that should be a continuous thing, and not just when another Black person has been killed by the police, or someone has been profiled, harassed, or attacked because of some hateful, untrue and dangerous rhetoric.
There are alot of things to fight for and be angry about, and honestly I hope you all stay angry.
In Solidarity,
Krystal