Thanks to Miss @Jazzzyone sharing this SURVEY on her blog of a research study whose purpose to recognize the experiences of this population, so as to inform theory which influences psychological counseling services and the training of clinicians.
I have been trained for Clinical Trials, so I know a few things on how they are done. My research in the past has been focused on human chronic disease, such as cardiovascular, aging, diabetes and cancer. When my paper that found that premature aging mice developed diet induced diabetes and was told that no one will read my paper by my lead professor and just a general Google search yielded EIGHT researchers have published papers citing my paper, I think I do have something significant to say on any research study...
Why? Because my paper was published in a 3rd tier journal--NO ONE CITES a 3rd tier paper EIGHT times... That means I ought to have gone for 2nd tier if I had more support.
BREATHE!!! I left research for that reason, alone... I got sick of my ideas, efforts and abilities being squashed. My entire graduate school career was fraught with blood, sweat and tears and I was no longer having any more fun!
So after Jazzzy's blog she asks some really good questions and my answers are mixed there in and my comments are on her blog, also.
Thanks for the link to the online survey. I have taken the survey and shared it on my FB groups and will be encouraging others to take it.
What do you think of the idea of this research study?: My initial review is I hope they get relevant data for the power number they seek in this clinical evaluation. I do not think they will without a huge marketing support system and people understanding why it is important to determine some things.
Do you plan on participating?: Like I said, I participated because I support all research in understanding why it is what we do and know that it is not solely due to bigotry and racism. That is not enough to define a social determinant to health.
What do you expect to be in the findings?: There will be outliers, how significant I do not know. Regionally there will be differences, especially if they are collecting IP addresses as a current locale to triangulate differences. That is a hint to them because some of the questions - like stating "skin complexion" there will be misnomer effects depending on region.
Is there a connection between racism & Black women’s eating habits and body image? Yes and no. Yes, because of socialization. No because of survival. A nurture, nature thing. Most of the Black Women I know do try to eat healthy. Probably because I am older. Teenagers and young adults under 25 generally do not know what healthy eating looks like if they have not be reared to understand it. So of course they are going to engage in unhealthy eating habits like eating potato chips for the entire week, even though they know salad is healthy to make. Is that due to bigotry for Black women? I think the impact of this study is the misnomer that Black Women do not have eating disorders when it is clinical apparent they do. There is huge amounts of data from the ER of Black Women coming in after a binging and purging cycle and there is organ failure or heart damage. And when asked how come they did not seek mental health care for their problem, it usually the off-putting they are getting from the clinician because the clinician fails to see the signs in Black Women. So...what are the signs of a eating disorder in black women and is it due to racism?
If you’re a Black woman, have you noticed a connection between your feelings of stress, anxiety, anger and loneliness and your eating habits?: Most definitely!
Can this research shed some light on the chasm between Black women and between Black women and Black men?: No. I found those questions on the survey too broad to find any medians that can be drawn from the study. Besides based on those studies that is a "sociological question" than a "psychological question".
What’s the one misconception about you or Black women in general that you would like to eliminate or clarify?: On eating disorders--Black women have them just like any other woman that has them. To what extent remains to be determined. I know personally a few binge/purgers more than I know anorexics. I know a few Black Women anorexics that do not look like ones. There is also the predispositions to several chronic illnesses, such a cancer, heart disease and diabetes that Black women are a high risk group. Is it due to the social determinants of health or is it due to a more organic biological issue - i.e. a shift in the body to use insulin in the case of diabetes? I don't know? Either way, I think that needs to be determined.
If you’ve completed the survey, wanna share some of your responses/reactions?: It is a good start. I have not seen the kinds of publicity for this clinical study compared to others. I have seen openness in the trial and the willingness to share. And when I see some of the questions, while I can recognized the overall intent, there is still a cultural incompetency to the question design. Who is the demographic they are trying to reach? Educated or all African Americans? I did not see a clear demarcation between psychological questions and sociological questions? The issue is called data "bias" and "equipose"- once the data is obtained and tabulated will the results be skewed to fit the original hypothesis? We know the purpose of the study, but the general public will not know what the hypothesis is until a "brief synopsis" is published. I can tell you what they are attempting though based on the cursory information - basically telling clinicians what to look for in Black Women Eating Disorders. I wish them the best of luck on that, but I think they will have to use some multivariate statistics to "fit" the hypothesis.
Volunteerism is a BIG thing in Seattle. I have received so much training in VARIOUS areas that needed volunteer.
University of Washington Future Faculty Fellow United Way Project LEAD Board Leadership Training Program Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and African American Women Breast Health Collaborative Organizing for America - Western Washington Division Evergreen Hospice Group Health Cooperative
The ones I paid for are through:
Washington Business Center and Black Dollar Days Task Force Biznik Ladies Who Launch - Seattle Count Me In
I have done ALL of these training programs just out of my own interest and business knowledge.
I do not think a wealth of resources would be available in any other city. Of course, I am a very resourceful person so I pretty much find what accepts me to receive the information.
But then nothing has panned out or flipped to a monetary aspect for something I would really want to do for a livelihood. There were issues of getting accurate information which causes me anxiety. Part of the reason I started my business, The Ariafya Universe is because I got sick of complaining why mental health and wellness resources failed to be found or do not exist for African American females. And in the guise of injustice and racism that do affect African American women...
But today, I attended an event for one of the groups I volunteer for and it HUMBLED me from my mental health issues.
It had to do with "death"...
I have always had a problem with understanding dying and death. At 3 years old I attended a funeral. Just images these days. It was for an Uncle. I did not understand what happened. My mother could not explain it to me because it did not make sense to her, too. OF COURSE THIS IS NOT ABOUT MY MOTHER!!! It is about me and how I have a problem understanding the concept of dying and death.
As a teenager, when my mental illness kicked in, I wanted to kill myself--yes, commit suicide and I actually attempted many times in my teen and early 20's. Being resourceful though, I found a way to get my mental health back for me... I taught myself that I needed more than medication, I also needed therapy and therapy was better for me one on one. Then I had to learn how to choose a therapist, which is a bad thing to do. After wanting to die, I still had a problem understanding the concept of dying and death even after two close family members died.
Life changes during its course and as it so happened, I became a volunteer for the group that directly deals with this. In their training there was an exercise they had us go through where we right all the important things, peoples, places, dreams in our lives. Then through no fault on our own, a heinous disease snuffs everything and we had to choose which of those sheets we would remove. Slowly as we threw away our important snippets of our lives, I realized we have NO choice in death. Death just comes and it is what we do to make that difference in birth to death. Spiritual beliefs are a good thing, but fact is death is inevitable and there is a world that deals with the bereavement.
The event today showed me how much a lost loved one's life means to people. They had their loved one's pictures posted...All these people that we once loved in real life!!! Makes one wish they could have loved them, too. And it was all different ages, types, males and females, happy times, sad times and the clothing many casual, some formally dressed. Many had smiles. But these people LIVED!
As a research scientist I have to ask: How does a body die, naturally at the molecular level? That is my thoughts these days...
But sharing with the bereaved whose loved ones have died is a grieving natural process to and everyone will go through it at sometime in their lives and everything will die.
I guess anywhere to learn that lesson is Seattle and maybe that is the point of why I am here...Maybe it could be one of the reasons why I stay and could like it...
THIS BLOG POST IS NOT A BASH ON THE SISTAHS!!! THIS BLOG POST IS NOT PROVING ANY PHYSICAL FITNESS AND/OR HEALTH CONCERNS THAT PLAGUE AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN!!! THIS BLOG POST IS ABOUT ME AND WHAT I GO THROUGH TO MAINTAIN MY PHYSICAL FITNESS AND STAY SANE!!!
Upon some cursory research for this article because most people who read my blog posts like pictures, I have to see this:
There is a problem with the "search keyword context" that Google uses...
I need to see this:
But when I exercise like the above where I live, I feel this:
See I live in a less diverse community where there is a lot of privilege and no exposure to various types of people. There is a wealth of many things, but a dearth of compassion for those less fortunate.
This was obvious to me when I decided to get out on a relatively nice day and WALK to buy my groceries versus drive. I was SO looking forward to it. I made my grocery list with health food options, such as lettuce, portabella mushrooms, carrot shreads and my vegetarian options--oh yeah, I'm a vegetarian for over 15 years!!!
I had calculated what I can spend in our household bank account. The internet was friendly for me today! And I budgeted the maximum I could spend on essential healthy items. I chose the store...a small chain of organics, diverse foods with the initials "TJ"... Yeah...It is like that. And I dressed in a nice workout outfit with earrings on so I avoid being accosted by law enforcement because there is such a thing as "Walking while Black"...
It was a busy day everywhere. Traffic was bad, the workers were re-striping the roads. And the traffic officer was doing his job. Nevertheless I was walking, so it did not matter! I even passed by another pedestrian who was so joyful that she could get out an walk! That brightened my day!
I got to TJ a bit harried, but in short time and it is like folks do not shop with a list problem! Going every which way, hogging up the aisles, not watching their kids, clueless. But I take that as a lesson in mindfulness these days and started to let that idiocy go and be about what I need.
Then TJ has the audacity to charge lunacy for the food they sale...Mind you 6 months ago, their pastries had fungus and I did not outright bust their assets by alerting Public Health. I should have but then what would that make me... Sales is not their thing. Gourmet-ness is. I do not see the better deal. But who cares? Right?
I choose not to use a cart or a basket because I have my "reusable" bags:
When I get out to the checkout like
The cashier BARELY acknowledges my existence and is running her mouth to her other person about a situation irrelevant to me, the customer... Her focus LACKS me. I am only there to give her company money, because I DOUBT that what I pay, the hard earned money barely goes to her paycheck. So really, TJ is taking a loss on a piss-poor employee that leaves customers unhappy...Basically FUX CRM...
They consolidate my groceries into 1 bag. Yes, I needed to say something, but I did not in the essence of time and I really did not feel like rationalizing with idiots who did not acknowledge me. No, what I do now...is I broadcast that on all Social Media Networks...to let folks know this lunacy goes on, this lunacy happens and that this is the piss poor customer service that his particular store provides as a "placeholder" because I doubt I am the first customer who has experienced this...
How can I prove this? My nearly $50 grocery bill on 13 items says so...and I have all the information I need...The receipt has everything and I will show redacted parts here:
This situation is the usual for me when I shop for groceries in where I live. I am treated like the obese woman eating the chicken wings in the first picture. When I pretty much look like the women jogging in the second picture. Internally, my soul feels like my ancestors who faced lynching in the third picture. All of that makes me agoraphobic. Why get out there and take care of myself when I am going to be berated in the manner I was by this company and its insensitive human resource and hiring practices?
Who wants to shop where they are not wanted, put down when the only color that needs to be concerned about is "green". Now I like the brands of food I buy from that company, but it takes a very long time for me to recover from ignorance like that. What makes it hard is when I run out of those brands, more often than not, they have not re-stocked them and I am unable to purchase them. It is a total lack and disregard for the customer. It is as if this company thinks that people will purchase our food and we can treat them shitty because we are unique. Meanwhile other grocers are getting "hip" to the idea and to compete, they offer another option. But the level of service is piss poor in where I live overall. No pride in the jobs that they do...
Once there was when they grocers had remodeled and the "top brass" was watching and boy were they helpful! But that has been my ONLY experience!
Where I live wants to proclaim all this "liberalism" but really it is a "long wolf in sheep's clothing". I oddly had an interesting conversation with a State Senatorial Candidate who is a Republican and I might just vote for him because he stopped by and talked to me. But needless to say I have strange-bedfellows where I live and it is really hard to know who is an idiot bigot or not.
Here are the facts though: In my area, Black women have the worse health outcomes for the populations to be so small and they are similar to the health outcomes of Black women in somewhere like Atlanta, Georgia.
Obesity is one factor...
Exercise options are diverse here. So "getting exercise" is not the issue. Laziness is as a significant issue as one would initially think. But a social determinant of health with racial injustice combined with a mental health issue--IS THE ISSUE!
Why go out when I am being harassed, where I am labeled, could be arrested, essentially lynched and suffer humiliation and imprisonment just on the basis of my looks? And response is everything...Given what happens to Black Women in Seattle overall...it does not matter what we say...
I might just add my PayPal donation coffer to help my husband and I move out of this place because I feel unsafe living here in Seattle, Washington as a Black Woman...
No matter how insolence my behavior can be, in general, Seattle makes people crazy due to the inability to have an accurate weather forcast, it does not MERIT these 2 incidents perpetuated by those who made an oath to uphold the laws of the local government!
I DO NOT FEEL SAFE HERE!!! IN FACT AM I NO MORE THAN THIS TO THE SEATTLE GOVERNMENT ENFORCERS???
In the movie, Sankofa, by the Director Haile Germima, the first time I saw it was with a friend who was part of the PAAA... Here is a preview:
Here is OUR story to the new world...Our history does NOT start there...OUR history starts 10,000 years and before the ~1500 ADY...
It is sad that when history is literally erased, intentionally, our genetic memory--REMEMBERS!
That is why I am crazy in this place called Seattle--the water tastes funny, the smells are wrong...Really, to put it bluntly, the original caretakers of this land as much as they tried to keep theirs, still have problems for what was stolen from them.
We can say post-racial, beyond race, overlook history as much as we want and the artist that made Sankofa only gives the horrific images and stories left for our own interpretation.
LIBERATION must first start in our minds.
What Seattle, Washington has done is convinced women like me, specifically Black Women, specifically one who wants Sankofa, Osun, Oya, Yemaja, AST livelihood beyond the MAAFA, Universal - ONE devoid of Yurug-ism - A Shakti life...Living under the rules of MA'AT...ONE who wants ARI'AFYA...
Seattle is not it...
I get more of a genetic calling from distantly remote cousins of Kama'aina origin than that in the Southern districts of my blood relatives, who live discordantly...
I miss my ABIBMAN...
I know that I left it in order to be my family due to fear, but look at all that I have lost and I am the one called crazy... *smiles*
Depression is a very serious mental illness that can lead to thoughts of suicide and kill 30% of teens and young adults each year. Moreover, left untreated, it can cause undue stress and harm on the suffering individual and impact their familial relations.
There are numerous drugs, anti-depressants available commercially as there are complimentary homeopathic alternatives available. Fact is Depression is NOT an illness where medication works alone. OTHER tactics MUST be used as prescribed by a professionally licensed health care provider.
But when I read this article as a review of this article I am bothered, because THEY ARE INHERENTLY CULTURALLY INCOMPETENT! THEY HAVE NOT WORKED IN THE GHETTO, THE HOOD, THE BARRIO, THE BOTTOM, THE SWATS, THE PROJECTS, THE SUFFERING, THE PAIN, THE PRISONS, THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOTHING!
So when they ceremoniously proclaim that "POOF" we no longer need this, they have missed a huge social determinant to health! One of them mainly injustice.
The other issue is the review study was published in 2008 in New England Journal Of Medicine. PLENTY CAN CHANGE in 2 years. This was a post-processed meta-study with bias clinical trial. Which means they took all the published papers, combined the data with some key parameters they were looking for, which inherently causes bias to a favorable or statistically significant result... That is like saying all roses are red because when I see this ONE rose garden, the roses are red...
Biology rarely works that way...
What gets me is the website it is published. I find it distasteful when you have a "PHYSICIAN" hocking his books that have not been FDA reviewed as "try this you will live" on an alternative health website. Basically telling folks to go off their medications prescribed by their personal physician who has been keeping up with the latest public health directives under the Joint Commission.
He says "over the years he has seen patients" - clue! That is NOT a clinical trial, under the rules and dictates of a University Medical School, Human Subjects Division, College of Health Association and National Institutes of Health program! Sure many doctors can say "over the years", but drawing indiscriminately based markers without some complicity is malfeasance.
I put something out there like that riding off my education, and I get booed off the stage. Not only that, I get sued and arrested. But I have the sense enough to know that if someone is having a mental health problem it is best to make them see their professionally licensed health care provider and tell them to do so.
With many of our veterans returning from these wars, possibly having PTSD and not enough providers, should any of us telling them, oh take more vitamins that are unregulated in the US, and exercise rigorously for 5 days a week? Oh wait! You lost both your legs in an IED attack and now due to your PTSD, you have reached your depression stage...Sorry you have been sobbing for 12 hours! But Antidepressants do not work!
AIN'T THAT SOME ISHT!
I am here to tell you: If your professionally licensed provider has good enough sense and reason to prescribe these kinds of medications to you, then recommend extra assistance through group therapeutics, and exercise regimen, and another class, do not take crap from the web, even from a verified source and stop taking your medications without telling your provider...
HAYLE YOU AIN'T GOTTA BELIEVE ME! I'M KEWL WITH THAT! BUT SERIOUSLY IF YOU'VE BEEN CRYING FOR > 4 HOURS AND NO ONE HAS DIED IMMEDIATELY...
Because really, that is not right or healthy...
Why do I say that? Been there, done that, got a T-shirt... Why make yourself have to go back to square one everyday when you do that?
Prayer helps, finding your faith helps, but these meds allow you to function in this society without feeling like you want to put holes in places and people that do not need holes...
If you don't have your health, what do you have? Really?
Well can't say I did not know this day was NOT coming, because I knew it was. And I feel let down because I thought I could do something, achieve something, make something happen and I feel I have failed...
Wah wah wah!
Poor me...Some would say. But to say that to someone like me pushes me over the edge, it pushes someone like me with a bipolar diagnosis makes a difference in my life. I know I treat others as best as I can with as much fairness and kindness as possible. I also do not take a bunch of crap. There is a reason for that. After PhD grad school Hell, I will not or cannot take it again. It cuts years off my life.
Then again, I am in a cycle here and what I feel is going to pass...
I have lost too much for my decision to "save face", humbling myself = selling myself out. Devaluing myself. Opening myself toward abuse by less than sanctimonious people. No. I cannot do it anymore. I cannot prove who I am to people anymore. All I can be is me. All I can do is be the BEST me I can be.
Reality check: I am a pretty good person! I love my husband who loves me. I have a nice home. My physical health is excellent. I lost 25 lbs. I am just enthusiastic for my future!
All I have to do is make my business move. Keep it moving forward...
The few African American owned newspapers in the Pacific Northwest that points out the indignity that have been representatives of the government who enforce inhumane laws against our most vulnerable citizens, then you wonder what kind of place are we living in:
But in the mainstream media there is a different picture painted where the beaten down Black girl with a huge swollen eye produced by the police overseer--err--officer to apologize for her protecting her friend from assault:
I HATE SEATTLE #5C BECAUSE BLACK WOMEN AIN'T SHIT OUT HERE - NO ONE PROTECTS US!!!
I say that because of this video:
I'm sorry, but there seems to be discordant rules going on here... The first rule was the officer, even though the Police Overseer --err-- Officer's Guild says he was well within his rights, took too long to take down the one girl he was trying to detain over all, when Miss Rosenthal interceded.
But when a detained delicate 15 year old, Malika Calhoun sasses a police guard, she is immediately subdued, and the officer is stripped of his position and goes to jail.
Same kinds of incidents, two different outcomes...Why? Because one girl was Black, fatter, bigger? And the other was a pretty little delicate white girl?
I CALL "PEDESTALIZATION"!!! Being put upon a pedestal licenses some people, chiefly women who fit a stereotype to be treated differentially by authority figures...
There is precedence when I read an article in Newsweek like this:
BLACK WOMEN INHERENTLY DO NOT FIT THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN AMERICAN SOCIETY!!!
This is not about what I personally believe, experienced or my personal opinion. There has been a systematic, outright psychological warfare for generations against the inner, natural, organic beauty that women of African descent have had in this American society.
Dare I say it causes psychological traumas to the point of mental illness starting that the point of puberty for a young girl adjusting herself for womanhood.
The fact is European or White features are favored. That is mainstream! That is a fact.
Living in a place like SEATTLE FAILS to foster ANY kind of self-esteem pride in young teenage Black girls to be anything than the prolific, over-sexualized, dehumanizing images seen on pornographic, misogynistic and outright sexually violent ugliness of humanity, and frankly femininity!!! Hence, a proud black women or girl is so humiliated to have no other recourse but to apologize to a system that gave her the swollen eye!
Where is the self-esteem in that? Especially since this girl has NOTHING in her family life-impoverished-has to fend for herself and find what can love her as somebody on this planet?
What will be the police OVERSEER'S punitive issues? NOTHING!!! He will come out unscathed.
So when the NEXT Black girl is killed! Oh it will be in the line of duty!
Well SEATTLE!!! Be prepared...because the tap dancing negroes you have in charge will concede "peace" so much so that Black Womanhood, Femininity, and Stoicism that gave us Civil Rights Freedoms in AMERIKKKLAN will all but lost!!!
When I read a "Rosa Parks Was Shot And Killed By Police In Seattle..." I honestly am resigned to say I will not be shocked, because I have reached apathy. Unless it is me, then it these Blogs will stop.
So I've gotten some interesting comments...So people are upset because they think I sided. First of all: I am NOT taking sides until I have more information. YES, I have reaction to BLACK GIRLS GETTING HIT BY POLICE!!!
I could be that Black Girl...Especially living in Redmond! I'd be "dragged" by police like Byrd!
I figure people skipped over my rant - because that is what it is - a rant and I had a lot to say because really this stuff gets bottled up inside me and I do not have an outlet. So let my outlet be MY BLOG!!! If folks disagree, dammit put it on your own blog! Psh! Get over it!
However...the deep thought and intrinsic parts were here. I don't know how to add a "next page tag" on Blogger, so *shrugs*. So I'm listing it here. Yes...It's long! Warning: Full on Mental Health Trigger READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
"No one shows greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends." John 15:13
What's the point in teaching these kids the Bible when the broad brush of hatred of them is painted onto them? When they are demonized at birth?
After seeing this, what's the point?
I learned nothing from this video. Why try to make things right when no one listens?
Where I live, it is predominantly Caucasian. I am treated as a pariah. That I am no more than these "ghetto ass nigger bitches who fight". I am treated as worthless, lazy and shiftless. THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO TREAT ME WITH DIGNITY ARE FOREIGN BORN PERSONS!!! Most of my friends are from other ethnic groups or alternative lifestyles up here. And really I do not care much about where they are from.
I even befriend elderly up her more than I befriend my age group.
And the oppression and suppression of Black Women up here is NOT ONLY DONE BY A SMALL NUMBER OF Caucasian men or women for that matter...BUT BY BLACK PEOPLE--particularly other BLACK WOMEN!!!
That is sad because really, SEATTLE will NEVER be an ATLANTA!!! And the stats for the success/failure rates are the same here as it is IN ATLANTA -- the Black Mecca!!! WTF!!!
There are ONLY A HANDFUL OF BLACK PEOPLE HERE OVERALL!!! WHY ARE WE PULLING EACH OTHER DOWN??? With insipid gossip, public belittling, alienation, demeaning - just overall cattiness!!! THAT IS SILLY!!! In all my years of surviving Atlanta with an unknown at the time bipolar disorder mental illness, I had not experienced the kind of fugly cattiness that I have encountered here!
Getting yelled at when I am the chairperson of the group!!! Being told that what I am doing does not mean anything when I win awards. That my research about a community service project "black people don't do". Requests for my presence to events 2 hours before the event kicks off via email, rather than a phone call or even a letter. Being angrily called because I am not a part of the group and should not be sharing supportive information. All of this has happened to me HERE LIVING HERE FOR SEVEN YEARS DONE TO ME BY BLACK WOMEN!!!
Well, I left and that is why I start The Ari | af | ya Universe with four divisions:
* Sistah Mental Health and Wellness * GYM Right Health and Wellness Coaching * Mental Health Angel Investment Group * The Isle Sanctuary Artistic Division
Now, when I speak to professionals about my activities, many of them are NOT Black and are VERY supportive and enriching. I have learned so much about business and social media in 2 years that I am thoroughly excited. I have met people globally because of my business ventures. Moreover, to be honest Washington State has a really good business set up but also makes people pay B&O tax. That is the reality.
Sadly, I am not making money. One guy I took a class from was very nice about - my target market--which are Black Women do not reside in Washington State. That is a FACT!!! Most of my target market is actually in the OTHER Washington - DC area... And I know next to NOTHING about that whole area, the demographic or why there ARE people who need the kind of services I am marketing?
I know overall the kinds of thing I have had to do to make myself in a place where I can be functional and attempt to be a contributing citizen of this society. But seriously, I am writing this piece to get it OUT of my mind.
Girls who are destitute do not need to be manhandled by a representation of the government long reviled in this kind of community even if the goal is to have the same kind of public safety they have in other parts--meaning White Parts--of the county. You cannot have the same rules for the Seattle School District as you have for the Bellevue and Lake Washington School Districts. Why? Because the Bellevue and Lake Washington School Districts have the redistricting and zones for the high schools to be in a "safe" roads location, where as many of the Seattle Schools were built long time ago before there was huge traffic issues and well urbanization just got built around them without planning.
And let's not get into how poorly planned Seattle as a city is right now...Because that's... UGH!!! Civil Engineers probably pull their hair out on that one...
Mentally...Those girls have no one...Punishing them to the full extent of the law is INSANE! It won't make a difference to them. And what are we doing and saying for THEM? Another nigger in jail? Really? That is dumb. Besides my tax dollars go to putting them into jail and I would prefer for them to go into the military and fight for my country... Where as "Tommy pervert Pedophile" that kidnaps little boys and chops them up is off gallivanting to the next little boy in Washington State. How does that set precedent? Or home chick who somehow has a "Kryptonite pussy" for military men to marry her and make them give her all their money with nine kids - um??? The logic?
Can women do better in Washington State - yes, you bet they can and many are doing it. There is a powerhouse lesbian groups up here. I am sure they have their issues they feel they need to fight for, but of the lesbians I know, they are positive role models to me and for me as what a woman can do in her life. I am NOT a lesbian, but I can see these groups making a difference.
The Breast Cancer corp of women - yes! If one EVER gets a breast cancer diagnosis, treatment is as rapid as one needs it and support is immediate. Sadly, the rates for women of African descent remains poor and unchanged in Seattle similar to that observed in Atlanta, but there are some researchers doing ALL they can to find a way to make a difference.
I AM DOING MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS resources for women of African descent. I am the ONLY one making a noise in that arena in Seattle at this time. While I know professionals who are women of African descent, they often say they do not have the time to coordinate a massive undertaking to educated the masses of Black people about mental illness. I do have to say breaking into the business is VERY HARD when you are an outsider. I speak to the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill and the Mental Health of America National organizations all the time on Social Media, but locally, ZERO!!! The Seattle roadblock losing and disconnect... *shrugs* And what I am doing is the online activities, rather than the real time - which I ENCOURAGE!!!
This is NOT my opinion, it is based on medical facts about mental illness.
Those girls were mentally ill. MOST POLICE OFFICERS know about mental illness but are not licensed, nor have enough time to rationally do a mental health intake like a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker can...
IN FACT!!! I have spoken to one of the top emergency room websites about how to deal with mental illness emergencies...Because when someone is "acting out" like those girls were, those hospital intakes are different that say a heart attack or gunshot wound...
Sadly, the emergency room is not well equipped to handle a mental breakdown until the mental health professionals arrive - most often NOT PHYSICIANS, sometimes a NURSE!!!
Sadly, 80% of the mental illness problem can be treated with medicine to get the person stable to make a rational decision, but the call cannot be made accurately because by the time they wind up in Emergency - if the person has not attempted a suicide - they have confounding factors...
Oh yeah, that the dirty little secret... And Washington State does have a huge problem with their mental health care system overall. Everyone KNOWS this--it's kindling for a fugly fire... Moreover, drug abuse is a huge problem here that impacts the organic mental illness treatment - meaning most people are drug addicts and treatment for drug abuse is fundamentally different than treatment for say, the favorite mental illnesses: depression, bipolar, anxiety, PTSD, schizophrenia, etc.
WHAT CAN WE DO???
The next wave is social media whether we like it or not...
On another cyberspace the problem really is poverty. There is an inherent injustice being done when someone is impoverished. What poverty does is rob an individual of her humanity - potential, goals, livelihood, success, etc. Poverty is not just about not having any money, but also lack of education, health, mental faculties, experiences, dignity. What did this young girl really have left that this police officer took? I can tell you the police officer does not even KNOW this and maybe does not care, but the reality is if given the chance, I think he would care and would do everything he care to understand. Sad part, I doubt his higher ups knew about this issue either - which makes this incident institutionalized racism... The outright overlooking of the global situation for the best outcomes dealing with sensitive community targets in an immediate, expedited format...
Too little, too late? I do not know? But I do know that something has to be done or we will have another event and the next one will be more violent than the WTO events...
And why does President Barack Obama have to be the savior for this issue, when really, guess what SEATTLE we have the resources right here to help us!!! UTILIZED THEM!!! LEVERAGE THEM!!!
{DEEP BREATH...BREATHE...CALM...TRYING TO NOT CRY...}
Let me be blunt full BIPOLAR EPISODE coming on bringing it to you live!!!
Black women AIN'T SHIT out here! Period! Yeah, I said it!
As someone who attended and graduated from Spelman College in 1990, Pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. has a Master's and Ph.D. in molecular genetics, IN SPITE of suffering from Bipolar Disorder that may have something to do with my genetic predisposition to Diabetes, I have EXPERIENCED the VERBAL INSULTS that has ZERO to do with MY SAFETY and MY WELL-BEING living in this WRETCHED PLACE called SEATTLE!!!
I HATE SEATTLE #5!!!
This craziness in these videos PROVES it!
All the socialization in the world will NEVER make SEATTLE ameneable for women, particularly women of color, especially women of African descent, specifically BLACK WOMEN!!! NEVER, NONE, NADA, NEVER!!! SEATTLE CAN'T CLEAN THIS IMAGE UP BECAUSE THEY WON'T CLEAN THIS IMAGE UP BECAUSE BLACK WOMEN ARE SEEN AS SHIT OUT HERE!!!
DEEPER: The way women are viewed out here is piss poor overall. I thought men from Dallas, Texas was misogynistic, well I was WRONG!!! Texas men are "macho" but apparently they treat their women right! I thought men from Southern Californian were dickheads, well I was WRONG!!! Southern Californian men have "hubris" but apparently they at least make their women feel good! I thought men from Atlanta, Georgia were "crafty", well I was WRONG!!! Atlanta men are "manipulative" but apparently they give their women what they need...
I have dated those kinds of men...
The men I see out here FAIL to know how to treat a women. But overall, the people out here are FROZEN!!! Called the "SEATTLE FREEZE" they have no social skills! They don't speak to one another in a civil way. They fail at basic social conversations with high minded, cerebral ideas! Problem solving just on a philosophical basis needs all the "touchy feel good crap", rather than just allowing the the air to clear. Avoidance is what many people do here. And it is making them sick - look at the medical stats just for numbers!!!
The other thing we work at a weather discrepancy - it is NOT sunny here often. Vitamin D is lacking. So there must be a population of people, especially in impoverished communities where healthy foods are missing in the diet that Vitamin D regulation is piss poor. THAT IS WHERE THESE GIRLS LIVED!!! It rains then it is sunny, my moods fluctuate and I have trouble managing mine own moods when the weather does that, how do you think teenage girls can manage???
FACTS: The high school - Franklin High School - did the right thing trying to stop kids from crossing the street from a busy intersection with out a crosswalk, but an overpass pedestrian bridge. Franklin High School is an inner city school...
The leadership requested the assistance of the Seattle Police Department to enforce the "jay walking" from that non-crosswalked area. The space is off of 23rd and Rainier. I use to do get my hair done down there, black women's hair care is ABSENT in large swaths of Washington State. So one has to traverse to the "traditionally Black neighborhoods" to have a decent relaxer touch up done in Seattle. The location of my beauty salon was 30 minutes from my house. Which means, that in order for me to get my hair done, I would have to undergo a series of mindfulness meditations to deal with several of events and probable incidences to not get the anxiety associated to JUST GET MY HAIR DONE RESPECTABLY!!! It was NOT because the salon was in the neighborhood and they did a WONDERFUL job, it just was too much for me to get there, impractical for me to get there and be sane enough to keep my hair looking like anything...
FACT: Those kids risked a busy thoroughfare to get to the convenience store to purchase junk food. They preferred NOT to take the foot bridge because basically they did not see the purpose of climbing it. Yeah...They were probably lazy. They would rather get hit by a bus and die for some GODDAMN JUNK FOOD!!! SERIOUSLY!!! How do you explain to teenagers not to take risks like that?
FACT: The SEATTLE PD were doing their jobs!!! I am going to be very honest with this one. The police officer in this picture WAS DOING HIS JOB!!! He was ordered to stop kids from jay walking. At some level he had to use his training to make an assessment on the safety of PEOPLE'S KIDS!!! TEENAGERS!!!
Here is the problem...There was ZERO COORDINATED RESPONSE IN PLACE!!! NO KIND OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT to optimize the actions. A house of cards was built and we witnessed the crash!
THE school had positive intentions to try to protect young people lives, so they made a mandate, but once kids are off school property, it becomes an issue for the local police, which must enforce the laws for public safety reasons. How they do it is unclear to me. I understand why, but how is another issue...
What's a better way?
The police can barricade...In fact I've seen it in other cities. It sucks, it looks like military-ish, but hey...It works...
The kids are too lazy to like what 20 steps when they CAN do it? Okay--where's the FUCKING PHYSICAL FITNESS COACHES!!! The discipline??? The getting "coached up"??? The ROTC would have been happy to send recruiters out there to make the kids go up those stairs!!! FOR FREE!!! A SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY!!! LOL!
The young people - the girls who got into the altercation - I'm sorry but the Seattle Times is painting a piss poor stereotype of Black Women when they print that these girls were trash and worthless with a "rap sheet"... The girl who was punched had a crack mother and was in and out of foster care system. She barely had anyone to love her just because she existed. The fact that she was about to GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL was an accomplishment given that she even LIVED THAT LONG!!! All the reasons for her NOT to succeed ANYWHERE IN LIFE!!!
She was the wrong color, the wrong sex, from the wrong parents, at the WRONG TIME!!! And she was about to GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL!!! She was trying to SAVE HER FRIEND!!!
"No one shows greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends." John 15:13
What's the point in teaching these kids the Bible when the broad brush of hatred of them is painted onto them? When they are demonized at birth?
After seeing this, what's the point?
I learned nothing from this video. Why try to make things right when no one listens?
Where I live, it is predominantly Caucasian. I am treated as a pariah. That I am no more than these "ghetto ass nigger bitches who fight". I am treated as worthless, lazy and shiftless. THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO TREAT ME WITH DIGNITY ARE FOREIGN BORN PERSONS!!! Most of my friends are from other ethnic groups or alternative lifestyles up here. And really I do not care much about where they are from.
I even befriend elderly up her more than I befriend my age group.
And the oppression and suppression of Black Women up here is NOT ONLY DONE BY A SMALL NUMBER OF Caucasian men or women for that matter...BUT BY BLACK PEOPLE--particularly other BLACK WOMEN!!!
That is sad because really, SEATTLE will NEVER be an ATLANTA!!! And the stats for the success/failure rates are the same here as it is IN ATLANTA -- the Black Mecca!!! WTF!!!
There are ONLY A HANDFUL OF BLACK PEOPLE HERE OVERALL!!! WHY ARE WE PULLING EACH OTHER DOWN??? With insipid gossip, public belittling, alienation, demeaning - just overall cattiness!!! THAT IS SILLY!!! In all my years of surviving Atlanta with an unknown at the time bipolar disorder mental illness, I had not experienced the kind of fugly cattiness that I have encountered here!
Getting yelled at when I am the chairperson of the group!!! Being told that what I am doing does not mean anything when I win awards. That my research about a community service project "black people don't do". Requests for my presence to events 2 hours before the event kicks off via email, rather than a phone call or even a letter. Being angrily called because I am not a part of the group and should not be sharing supportive information. All of this has happened to me HERE LIVING HERE FOR SEVEN YEARS DONE TO ME BY BLACK WOMEN!!!
Well, I left and that is why I start The Ari | af | ya Universe with four divisions:
Now, when I speak to professionals about my activities, many of them are NOT Black and are VERY supportive and enriching. I have learned so much about business and social media in 2 years that I am thoroughly excited. I have met people globally because of my business ventures. Moreover, to be honest Washington State has a really good business set up but also makes people pay B&O tax. That is the reality.
Sadly, I am not making money. One guy I took a class from was very nice about - my target market--which are Black Women do not reside in Washington State. That is a FACT!!! Most of my target market is actually in the OTHER Washington - DC area... And I know next to NOTHING about that whole area, the demographic or why there ARE people who need the kind of services I am marketing?
I know overall the kinds of thing I have had to do to make myself in a place where I can be functional and attempt to be a contributing citizen of this society. But seriously, I am writing this piece to get it OUT of my mind.
Girls who are destitute do not need to be manhandled by a representation of the government long reviled in this kind of community even if the goal is to have the same kind of public safety they have in other parts--meaning White Parts--of the county. You cannot have the same rules for the Seattle School District as you have for the Bellevue and Lake Washington School Districts. Why? Because the Bellevue and Lake Washington School Districts have the redistricting and zones for the high schools to be in a "safe" roads location, where as many of the Seattle Schools were built long time ago before there was huge traffic issues and well urbanization just got built around them without planning.
And let's not get into how poorly planned Seattle as a city is right now...Because that's... UGH!!! Civil Engineers probably pull their hair out on that one...
Mentally...Those girls have no one...Punishing them to the full extent of the law is INSANE! It won't make a difference to them. And what are we doing and saying for THEM? Another nigger in jail? Really? That is dumb. Besides my tax dollars go to putting them into jail and I would prefer for them to go into the military and fight for my country... Where as "Tommy pervert Pedophile" that kidnaps little boys and chops them up is off gallivanting to the next little boy in Washington State. How does that set precedent? Or home chick who somehow has a "Kryptonite pussy" for military men to marry her and make them give her all their money with nine kids - um??? The logic?
Can women do better in Washington State - yes, you bet they can and many are doing it. There is a powerhouse lesbian groups up here. I am sure they have their issues they feel they need to fight for, but of the lesbians I know, they are positive role models to me and for me as what a woman can do in her life. I am NOT a lesbian, but I can see these groups making a difference.
The Breast Cancer corp of women - yes! If one EVER gets a breast cancer diagnosis, treatment is as rapid as one needs it and support is immediate. Sadly, the rates for women of African descent remains poor and unchanged in Seattle similar to that observed in Atlanta, but there are some researchers doing ALL they can to find a way to make a difference.
I AM DOING MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS resources for women of African descent. I am the ONLY one making a noise in that arena in Seattle at this time. While I know professionals who are women of African descent, they often say they do not have the time to coordinate a massive undertaking to educated the masses of Black people about mental illness. I do have to say breaking into the business is VERY HARD when you are an outsider. I speak to the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill and the Mental Health of America National organizations all the time on Social Media, but locally, ZERO!!! The Seattle roadblock losing and disconnect... *shrugs* And what I am doing is the online activities, rather than the real time - which I ENCOURAGE!!!
This is NOT my opinion, it is based on medical facts about mental illness.
Those girls were mentally ill. MOST POLICE OFFICERS know about mental illness but are not licensed, nor have enough time to rationally do a mental health intake like a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker can...
IN FACT!!! I have spoken to one of the top emergency room websites about how to deal with mental illness emergencies...Because when someone is "acting out" like those girls were, those hospital intakes are different that say a heart attack or gunshot wound...
Sadly, the emergency room is not well equipped to handle a mental breakdown until the mental health professionals arrive - most often NOT PHYSICIANS, sometimes a NURSE!!!
Sadly, 80% of the mental illness problem can be treated with medicine to get the person stable to make a rational decision, but the call cannot be made accurately because by the time they wind up in Emergency - if the person has not attempted a suicide - they have confounding factors...
Oh yeah, that the dirty little secret... And Washington State does have a huge problem with their mental health care system overall. Everyone KNOWS this--it's kindling for a fugly fire... Moreover, drug abuse is a huge problem here that impacts the organic mental illness treatment - meaning most people are drug addicts and treatment for drug abuse is fundamentally different than treatment for say, the favorite mental illnesses: depression, bipolar, anxiety, PTSD, schizophrenia, etc.
WHAT CAN WE DO???
The next wave is social media whether we like it or not...
On another cyberspace the problem really is poverty. There is an inherent injustice being done when someone is impoverished. What poverty does is rob an individual of her humanity - potential, goals, livelihood, success, etc. Poverty is not just about not having any money, but also lack of education, health, mental faculties, experiences, dignity. What did this young girl really have left that this police officer took? I can tell you the police officer does not even KNOW this and maybe does not care, but the reality is if given the chance, I think he would care and would do everything he care to understand. Sad part, I doubt his higher ups knew about this issue either - which makes this incident institutionalized racism... The outright overlooking of the global situation for the best outcomes dealing with sensitive community targets in an immediate, expedited format...
Too little, too late? I do not know? But I do know that something has to be done or we will have another event and the next one will be more violent than the WTO events...
And why does President Barack Obama have to be the savior for this issue, when really, guess what SEATTLE we have the resources right here to help us!!! UTILIZED THEM!!! LEVERAGE THEM!!!
Irony at it's best. Anyone who knows me knows I am a Star Wars geek. When I got this report from CNN I remember the heinous vitriol I received when I gave similar differential from my roleplaying on Twitter and the overt cyberbullying alienation I got positing this mental health differential.
I think what the misnomer is that evil people, even in real life, like Hitler and Edi Amin, having a "mental illness" somehow absolves them from justice and responsibility to the hateful destruction they have imparted on this Earth. In the example above, the "case study" of "Darth Vader" suggest he has a borderline personality disorder. My nominal understanding gave the differential of "Dissociative Identity Disorder", I admit, it was a stretch, and currently agree with clinicians that it resembles Narcissistic personality disorder. But I also think there is mixed episode Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to Anakin Skywalker's enslavement, grief and hastened bereavement from the loss of his mother, and on-going of the "Clone Wars". And this is not to mention the manipulations used by "The Force", which I strongly believe that Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) actively used to manipulate Anakin Skywalker's thoughts, egging him on - but in the novel, Yoda clearly says, that Anakin Skywalker's conversion to Darth Vader WAS A CHOICE...
Aside from this exercise being a fun one for us "real-life" scientists to do--dream of science fiction because it is easier without proof, what took me aback is the ferociousness, hate-fill puerile socially inept spewing of vitriol with a complete deluded lack of knowledge. Now, granted the lead expert is NOT the largest Star Wars fan on the planet, and may have NEVER studied any of the books cover-to-cover, and innocently thought, "Hey, this would be a great exercise of my skills to share how this situation is possible and relate to millions worldwide!" But this ugliness toward him is stupid to say the least. Telling him to just get over it is to question his training and intelligence thereby exacting mental health stigma against him - i.e. psychiatrists are just as crazy as the patients they treat... Now, that is why many of physicians/clinicians only interact with colleagues rather than unknowns. Too much ignorance.
Wait... Aren't we suppose to be trying to get along in Cyberspace through social media? Wow!
Let me make this clear: Just because one has a mental illness does not absolved them from their responsibilities...
It is a CHOICE to do right by oneself and others! Just because one has a diagnosis like that, does not mean they stop trying to care for oneself!
We who suffer from mental illness MUST make a covenant with OURSELVES to optimize our health. Of course this is for ADULTS! Children cannot go into promises they cannot keep. But now that we are adults who are mentally ill, does not mean we "get off scott-free". That was one of the HARDEST, CRUELEST lesson I HAD to learn when I had to learn how to manage my mental illness, bipolar disorder. If I wanted to live, I had to DO this.... Here is my COVENANT I made to myself:
My basic responsibility is to TAKE CARE OF MYSELF! Take my meds, see my PCPs, track my symptoms, do my fitness, eat healthy, practice my mindfulness, practice compassionate listening and nonviolent communication, continue learning, etc! Whatever it is I must do, I continue to do it without giving up, writing it off, quitting if I believe in it and it does not cause me ADVERSE stress...
What's ADVERSE stress: Not eating, sleeping, picking fights, all the wonderful symptoms of one's mental illness within one week... If you done 5/10 of them it means you are having an episode and need to speak with your provider, ASAP!
Responsibility to MYSELF TO KEEP MYSELF ON POINT with forgiveness. We ALL relapse. Be gentle, be kind to oneself! We're just more sensitive to our failures than those who are not mentally ill. If we find ourselves making huge mistakes and errors in what we do, such as that at work, with our friends, with our families, okay, you made the mistake...GIVE IT TIME! The decision to forgive the mistake by others is THEIR choice...The decision to forgive yourself from the mistake is YOUR choice... Now, I AM NOT talking about overt criminal behavior--in fact, it is a misnomer that mentally ill persons cause crime... ONLY in the context of outright substance abuse is the combination of mental illness and crime relevant - even for pedophilia. Substances that abused include tobacco and/or alcohol, too. It has been found for schizophrenics, they abuse tobacco, there may be a mutated receptor in their brains that causes the increased addiction to the nicotine. Would they cause crime, well that remains to be seen, but if other illegal substances, such as methamphetamine, and other drugs, making it tough to call and more studies are needed.
TRY to make every effort to get out there and do it...It is SO easy to become reticent in our life duties. From running errands, to going to seminars to network, wow, it is SO easy to give up on ourselves and it does look like wallowing in our own misery. DO NOT FALL INTO THAT TRAP! FIND ANYTHING to get yourself out. If all you can do is tweet me, then do it! I will listen and I coach with suggestions. But you have to tell me if you just want me to listen versus coach. And I charge $60 per hour to coach because what coaching does different from a diagnosis is get you to the goal of you "feeling better" based on your small wins.
Yes, I suffer, so I KNOW what it takes to work through it. Getting out of that FUNK. What I do, is I post what is EXACTLY going through my mind during an episode. Maybe, just maybe a well-meaning and astute researcher will come along and realize what is going on with me that can help others from suffering...So when I get ultra depressed, I post...
The other covenant I make is I make phone calls to my family members who "get" me. Namely my Mother and my Husband. If I call my mother, she just talks and tells me how things are going and the laughter makes me feel much better... If I call my husband, since he is a veterinarian, he goes through a differential diagnosis until he gets flustered and will make be speak to his father, my father-in-law, who is a retired Cardiologist...LOL! If I call my Father, he listens to a point, then he tells me EXACTLY what do, then asks when I am coming home and he will get my ticket...
If all those contacts fail, I call the pros in and I get appointments. By the time the episode is over is when I speak to them. I want to have them "catch me in the act" - RARELY does that occur. But when they do catch me, I get great diagnosis...It is the acting out that helps them. RARELY does that happen even for other Chronic Conditions, like heart attacks... We only know that a heart attack has occurred because 1) Cardiac Arrest; 2) Something is wrong with usual diagnostics (i.e. Echo, EKG); or 3) Catheter block visualization. But for mental illness, it is RARE to see the psychotic behavior when someone is at their "ends rope". There are NO physical diagnostic tests. So how can we tell for ourselves???
KNOW YOUR BODY AND ACCEPT THINGS YOU CAN/CANNOT CHANGE! Fact is, if you are tired and need the rest--GET IT SOME KIND OF WAY! If you know that you get very nervous in huge gridlock traffic at specific times of the day, PLAN YOUR TRIP!!! TAKE YOUR TIME!!! ((Yeah, that happens to me and sometimes, I just don't show up for it, because it is NOT worth my sanity)). Don't expect to lift 100 pounds if you haven't practice in years! Just have fun for now, and gradually build up. The issue with most mental illness is "PATIENCE"...BE PATIENT ESPECIALLY WITH YOURSELF! That has to be THE COVENANT you make with yourself--PATIENCE!!! The reality is, everything takes time and we want to rush it. I know. I have wanted to rush through systems rather than slowing down, breathing through and savor in the moment of my life.
Because ultimately, it is YOUR LIFE, YOUR CHOICE, YOUR DECISION! You make the choice! One choice you CAN make is to do "nothing"...That is the choice you can make. But isn't life much more "sweeter" when you choose to live your life on a healthy decision rather than doing nothing???
