If you’ve ever felt that your mere existence is wrong, that your culture should be watered down in order to be accepted, and that the hate you experience is somehow your fault, it is only valid to feel that your struggles don’t matter. We want to take this moment to say: You deserve to exist in spaces that don’t make you feel like you have to wear a mask or present your feelings differently than how they truly are. The person that you are without those “socially acceptable” filters is someone worth loving. You deserve to be truly seen and heard. There are people that will continue to fight alongside you to create a reality where outside voices do not have the power to create a narrative that says otherwise.
You deserve to do more than just survive.
Your emotions are not things to be hidden away, and you should have the space and access to resources in order to acknowledge what you’re dealing with.
The generational pain that affects communities of color is as vast and diverse as the communities themselves. The history of oppression and hate in the United States, and the way this oppression and hate still manifests today, only begins to cover how individuals and their families have been affected. There is a direct connection to this pain from the past, and it is being compounded with the pain felt today. Focusing on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) mental health means focusing on lived experiences. Hearing the voices of generations that came before and sitting with the ways that trauma is still being inflicted today. You are allowed to give voice to your pain.
I’m rooting for you. We’re rooting for ourselves. We have to try to believe that our future is worth fighting for. You are more than the pain and trauma you may be carrying—whether inherited or directly experienced. To the young Black woman speaking up in a room of white co-workers, to the child of first-generation immigrants, to the Asian-American mother keeping her family’s culture alive, to the Brown boys growing up with fear, and to every Indigenous community still asking to be heard: You are living proof of generational hope and resilience, of strength and community carried through the years. This world can be heavy, but your safety, joy, and hope are sacred. You are not in this alone.
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