Existing As I Am is Self-liberation & self-hlub

Happy International Workers’ Day! Download Anakbayan Long Beach’s first-ever MAY DAY MIXTAPE, dedicated to all the workers in history who fought for the rights that we have today and to all of today’s workers who continue to fight for the genuine liberation of all working people.

Happy Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

We Will Not Be Silent – #Asians4BlackLives MWSM marching in MN Rise Up & #ShutItDown with Baltimore

In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Month this May 2015, we present the sequel of our narrative series called Critical Reflections of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the Midwest. Since our Raising UP the Hmong LGBTQQI Narrativeslaunched in 2013, we’ve gotten over…

AAPI Heritage Month: Dare to Be Different. Explore. Live a Little.

Rainbow Interstate, Minneapolis – Vineeth Mekkat Source – http://www.flickriver.com/photos/vineethtm/8742638807/

I am the eldest daughter and grew up in a large family. I always felt overwhelmed with all the duties that were given to me. The housework, the child care tasks, the cooking responsibilities and so forth. All the nitty gritty dirty work was my responsibility. I was always expected to…

Somebody get that man some ice for that burn

“My time is coming. It’s already time for me to die. I can’t wait. … So yeah I plan to kill myself during spring break, which by the way, starts in two days.” — Wynne Lee wrote in a March 29, 2012 journal post.

Wynne Lee’s mind was at war with itself – one voice telling her to kill herself and another telling her to live. She had just turned 14.

Wynne Lee didn’t know where her despair was coming from. The words “depression” and “suicide” were not in her vocabulary. She knew, however, that she was failing — she was defying expectations of who she was supposed to be.

Growing up in the suburbs of the San Gabriel Valley, a well-known destination for Asian immigrant families with high educational and economic aspirations, she believed she was supposed work hard, get good grades and make her Taiwanese immigrant parents proud. She wasn’t doing any of that, and she didn’t know how to ask for help.

When it comes to mental health treatment, Asian Americans often get short shrift. Researchers say they are both less well-studied and less likely to seek treatment. While rates of suicide tend to be lower than national rates overall, Asian Americans are far from homogeneous and the limited research suggests depression and suicidal impulses vary significantly depending on age, gender and national origin.

For instance: Asian American college students are more likely to seriously consider suicide than white peers. According to 2007 data from the National Center for Health statistics, Asian-American females ages 15 to 24 were second only to Native Americans for suicide deaths.  In addition, researchers have found that Asian women born in the U.S. are at significantly higher risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts than others, including women immigrants and U.S.-born men.

Because they may not see depression as a brain disease or fear stigma, many Asian immigrant families don’t reach out for help until there is a crisis, experts say. “A lot of Asians avoid seeking treatment until the disease is advanced,” said MaJose Carrasco, director of the multicultural action center for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

And even when they do reach out, they often find both medication and psychotherapy a poor fit. Patients who seek care “are telling us is that they don’t think that psychotherapy, which is designed for white Americans, really works for them,” said Hyeouk “Chris” Hahm of Boston University, who received federal funding to test a program addressing  culture and family issues among Asian American women.

There are relatively few psychologists and other mental health professionals of Asian heritage. Other therapists may use culturally biased screening tests, or fail to recognize that symptoms of depression may be different for Asian Americans. For example, these patients are more likely to report physical symptoms such as headaches than feelings of sadness, said Nolan Zane, director of the Asian American Center on Disparities Research at University of California, Davis.

Zane added that patients from immigrant families are frequently reluctant to take medications with which they are unfamiliar. They may prefer Eastern medicines or fear side effects, including fatigue, that make it harder to keep up with work or school.

Parents sometimes stand in the way of treatment, intentionally or not, because of the high standards they set. Kids can be burdened by the sacrifices their parents have made for their benefit.

“It takes a few generations before they can finally be free,” said Ranna Parekh, director of the division of diversity and health equity for the American Psychiatric Association.

Found from various places online:

The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

Angela Y. Davis - Are Prisons Obsolete?

Angela Y. Davis - Race, Women, and Class

The Communist Manifesto - Marx and Engels

I did some research and couldn’t find this here, if someone else already posted it, please send me a link.

Last thursday (18/12/14), here in Brazil, approximately two thousand people reunited in an act called “Ferguson É Aqui” (Ferguson Is Here), mobilized by the US acts.

In Brazil, black people are three times more victimized by cops (Departamento de Sociologia da Universidade Federal de São Carlos - UFSCar). From 2009 to 2011, 823 people were killed by policemen, and 61% of them were black.  79% of the times, killed by white cops.

Dear white people Fuck you and who ever else is posting this fake picture.

Please feel free to link anyone who says: “Tamir shouldn’t have had a toy gun.”