Teehee

People killed: around three quarters of a million.

So one thing about recovering from top surgery during a heatwave is that there are cables absolutely everywhere. Cables and sweat. I'm trying to come up with a witty title but it is simply too hot.

as venezuela is my home country, all of this hits especially close to home. thankfully, my family and loved ones are safe since they were in cities not as severely affected. however, many others have not been as fortunate and are now facing the aftermath of these events.

years of political and economic instability have left many communities with limited resources and infrastructure, making it even more difficult to respond to emergencies like this. there are reports of people who remain missing, and many families are still waiting for news about their loved ones. rescue efforts have been made even more difficult by shortages of equipment, ambulances, and other emergency resources needed to respond to a disaster of this scale.

if you're able to, please consider sharing information, supporting verified relief efforts, or simply helping spread awareness about what is happening.

here’s a link where you can donate if you can

i’ll try to get more help resources to post here!

—Did you know that Juneteenth is also celebrated in a part of Mexico? Nacimiento Mexico was once home to thousands who escaped slavery in the US. As many as 10,000 slaves followed a clandestine Southern Underground Railroad to Mexico. —To date, many Black Mexicans from the Texas area retrace a portion of the same route their African American ancestors followed in 1850 when they escaped slavery. —Descendants of slaves who escaped across the southern border observe Texas’s emancipation holiday with their own unique traditions in the village of Nacimiento. —Slave hunters would patrol the southern border for escapees, led by the Texas Rangers but the Mexican army would be there waiting for them (the slave hunters) to turn them away.

Please have a moment of silence for the people who were killed instead of freed when news of emancipation finally reached the furthest corners of the american south.

have another moment for the ledgers, catalogs, and records that were burned and the homes that were destroyed to hide the presence of very much alive and still enslaved people on dozens of plantations and homesteads across the south for decades after emancipation.

and have a third moment for those who were hunted and killed while fleeing the south to find safety across the border, overseas, in the north and to the west.

black people. light a candle, write a note to those who have passed telling them what you have achieved in spite of the racist and intolerant conditions of this world, feel the warmth of the flame under your hand, say a prayer of rememberance if you are religious, place the note under the candle, and then blow it out.

if you have children, sit them down and tell them anything you know about the life of oldest black person you've ever met. it doesn't have to be your own family. tell them what you know about what life was like for us in the days, years, decades after emancipation. if you don't know much, look it up and learn about it together.

This is Juneteenth.