society
Please don’t come up to me w/your #privileged ass saying, “But you’re not “Black, Black” or “You’re different” or “I don’t see color when I look at you”. You would still have me pushed to the back of the bus. You would still ask, “What did you do?” if a cop shot me even though I have never had a parking ticket. You would still not invite me so that your white guests would not have to feel uncomfortable. You would ask me why would I want to learn how to use a #handgun, but your white friends you would gladly run to the firing range with them and talk shop afterwards. If you don’t see my color then my plight doesn’t matter to you; then you don’t see Me.
Don’t come up to me with your privileged eyes looking at me and say, “But you’re not like ‘those’ #gays” or “you’re #different, you don’t throw it in our face”. I have felt different all my life. #Society made sure of that. I am not here to make you feel comfortable w/how I #love. I’m not here to have you tell me how to dress or express myself. To my #trans and #gender nonconforming kin, my butch #lesbian kin, my fem #gay kin…Thank you for being on the frontlines of the battle against #hate.
Don’t come up to me w/your privileged #ignorance saying, “We want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself so we didn’t invite you”. I have #HIV, & HIV does not have me! Will you please open a #book; do some research; go to a seminar; learn something! You can drink from the same glass as me, you can #hug me, you can kiss me, you can #love me. But you won’t because #AllLivesMatter is conditional.
Don’t come up to me w/your privileged #hypocrisy thinking that you need hide your valuables if I come over but if I were white dot dot dot, or saying “oh, come on, just 1 drink”. No, But I can end up losing everything by picking up the 1st one. Getting #addicts the proper #treatment only seemed to matter when the #drug problem is a #white problem. You would have me put in #jail if I were in active #addiction.
Don’t come up to me w/your privileged face saying “Go back to #Africa”. I didn’t ask your ancestors to bring mine over here. My folks are from #Haiti, I was born in the USA. Do you speak #Navajo? Go back to Europe then!
January 4th - In Thought
The social stigma attached to being an addict may keep many of us from coming into recovery. Today we have scientific proof that addiction is a treatable disease. However, society still views those suffering from addictions as weak or that they have a moral deficiency. Because of this we hide our problem from our loved ones and others we are in contact with; going into isolation as our disease progresses.
The stigmatized are often rejected by society. Coming into recovery we gain new coping skills to deal with the rejection that often produces feelings of shame, guilt and low self-esteem. We begin by actively listening to how other recovering addicts, that have had similar feelings of not fitting the mold of society’s ‘norm’, live their lives on life’s terms. We learn that we can not control how those who do not understand addictions feel about us but we can control how we react to being stigmatized. Through self-honesty; admitting to ourselves that we suffer from the disease of addiction. Empowering ourselves by accepting this and taking action to treat our chronic illness whether through self-help fellowships and/or professional mental health service we begin the work to free ourselves from active addiction; bringing us out of isolation and closer to being productive members of society.
“I am a recovering addict and what you think of me is none of my business.”
We have many advocates in recovery that are helping to reduce stigma and increase treatment for those with addiction. Your best advocate in recovery to reduce stigma is your own recovery by empowering yourself with the tools to keep you from returning to active addiction and finding a new way to live and helping others to do the same.
It will take time to and it will take work. At first we may not see the change in ourselves but with continued work on our recovery; others will see the change in us. We are not bad people trying to be good; we are sick people trying to well - one day at a time.