Help a Community Lawyer in Crisis

I never wanted to create a gofundme but my current material conditions leave me no choice. Between my journey with PTSD as a survivor of domestic and sexual abuse and the constraints of providing community lawyering for people living through poverty and increased state repression - there are no resources to support the work I do.

What work is that you wonder? Over the years, I have been providing countless Know Your Rights workshops, rapid response jail support, pro bono legal representation and court support, conflict de-escalation and mediation, mutual aid distros, substance use counseling, police violence intervention, and more.

Providing crisis response is difficult enough - but now with the increased cost of living and state repression and no cushion as the first in my family to even attend college (let alone become a lawyer) I find myself owing money to everyone around me - my roommate, my therapist, my psychiatrist, my divorce attorney, the government [for my student loans] - while the people around me increasingly need legal support.

As a fierce advocate and artist at heart - barely sustaining my mental health on an old, out-of-tune piano - and teacher/mentor to people of all ages, I wish I could continue to play music and provide free and accessible legal support and crisis response to my community 24/7, but capitalism renders that impossible. As a queer and trans Brown person - my community may feed my stomach and soul, but we are too under-resourced to support each other financially. Everyone around me needs legal support - I can't also be drowning.

I'm asking for whatever you can give so I do not need to continue to rely on the immense generosity of those closest to me as I continue to respond to the nightmare of this decaying empire and increased climate catastrophe. I have plans on what moving forward could look like, but this hole is too deep and requires more support so this critical work can continue.