
Help a Black Disabled Homeless Youth get back on their feet
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hi, I'm ara. since moving out of my abusive household, I have been sustaining myself and working towards recovery and building a better life for myself and my siblings, who still live with my abuser. In December of 2023, I lost my housing after my apartment flooded, and access to medical care. I'd been offered a place to stay by friends who were incredibly close to me, but the situation quickly revealed itself to be incredibly unhealthy and unsustainable. However, partially out of my love for my best friend, and because I had no other place to go, I lived with them until March 2024. My identity as a marginalized person of color, traumatic history, and disdain for Agents of Social Control have never been things I've been silent about, ESPECIALLY not to the white "progressive" friends I held close to me. Rather than listen to me and reconcile with her privilege and power as a white woman, my best friend followed me to a bar I went to, to have an escape where I could journal about the overwhelming stress I was enduring. She loudly accused me of being manic and off my meds (neither of which I was at the time), resulting in the police being called on a black "person in crisis" by a bar patron. I had to deal with 5 police officers, and spend hours detailing my entire personal medical history to a social worker, who ended up ghosting me, rather than following up with promised resources and support.
My best friend was also recently promoted to being my supervisor at work, which was another position of power that was abused and not reconciled with, even before the final incident. I was too scared for my safety to even return to their house, and had to quit my job immediately after, being unable to return to a hostile workplace.
I was given 1 day to move out from their house, but, besides what clothes and prepacked items I had ready to be moved already, my belongings were not given back to me for 2.5 weeks, after which point I was able to compile a list of almost $400 worth of unreturned/damaged items. None of my groceries from the fridge or freezer were given back, and many had gone bad during the 2.5 weeks my belongings were being held hostage, and the former housemates insist that they hold no responsibility for that. As of April 7, I have not received any compensation.
I need food assistance, have medication/physical and mental health needs that I don't have access to resources for, and most importantly, a place to stay by May.
Organizer
Ara E
Organizer
Richmond, VA