Rage2Rainbows

Not my standard first-of-the-week post, instead I share this with a spirit of transparency to shed light on the toxic side of the internet and to acknowledge that misogyny is still alive and well. If others are in a similar situation, please know you are not alone. Recently, I received a message from a friend checking in after seeing a post with some unflattering comments directed at me. Unfortunately, that has been the case ever since I was selected as the 19th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. I will always remember that day, mostly for good, but also because it marked the beginning of a new reality for me - relentless online harassment. This is, sadly, a reality shared by many who are harassed, attacked, and abused by hateful people on the internet. While the digital world has connected us in powerful ways, it has also given some a platform to be their worst selves. This abuse, cyber bullying, and hatred is unacceptable.    I am an optimist and firmly believe GOOD always wins. I also know there are more people of GOOD CHARACTER than the negativity we see online. That said, there are also too many bystanders — good people who simply don’t know what to do or don’t want to get involved. My ask…let’s check on those we care about so they don’t face this alone. Let’s show that cruelty won’t be tolerated. And a good habit for ALL of us to practice and remind others of: If you have nothing nice to say, move on. (Repeat 3x)   Our nation…and our world…are full of opportunities to engage and leave it a little bit better. You’ve heard me talk about a whole-of-society approach before…this is no different. Decency and common courtesy require a whole-of-society approach too. Together, let’s create a more positive future for ALL of us! 𝑁𝑂𝑇𝐸: 𝐴 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑢𝑠𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠, 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒. 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑒 - 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑛𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑠. 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑛’𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑃𝐴𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑒𝑎𝑚 19 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑗𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠…𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑠. #NoPlaceForHate #StandAgainstMisogyny #RespectOnline #bettertogether #wholeofsociety

Trigger Warning #DomesticViolence #IntimatePartnerViolence #IPV #DV . . . Mika and her husband were laid off at the same time. After several months, Mika found a job with benefits for her family. One morning, heading to her second week at her new job, her husband saw several dishes left in the kitchen sink from the kids’ meal. He told her that she needed to clean them promptly. She said no because she needed to get to a work meeting on time. She rushed out to her bike, he followed her, and told her not to leave until she cleaned the plates. She told him no. He responded by taking her work backpack and ran back into the house. She chased him, pleading for her bag. He told her to wash the dishes then she'd get it. She didn't understand why he'd risk her job-- he was unemployed & they needed her income. She wrestled with him to get the bag back, afraid she'd get hurt, as she was smaller than him. She finally tugged it out of his hand & then rushed off to work, shaken and scared. During her new job, she struggled with balancing work and home life. Her husband continued to emotionally abuse & shame her, insisting that she was not being a 'good enough' mother to their children or a 'good enough' wife supporting him as he tried to find work. One night he threatened to feed their kids take-out food that had gone bad, blaming her for not making sure the refrigerator leftovers were eaten before going bad. She ate the expired leftover after he threatened that if she didn't, he would feed it to their 6 year old to teach her not to waste food. She felt sick after eating it, but she was scared of his shouting, fist pounding the dinner table. He would chastise her about her inability to keep the house clean, yet always claimed he was too busy to help out with household chores and even child care in the evenings because he was looking for a job. To no surprise, the domestic violence Mika experienced eventually impacted her ability to perform her job effectively. The constant intimidation, emotional abuse, and angry outbursts about 'his' house not being clean enough and threats if she didn't make sure the house was clean before she went to bed, took its toll. She was let go, 6 months after she had started her job. It wasn’t until she fled her marriage a year later, that she realized she lost her job due to DV. She wished she'd known sooner and wondered, had she told her supervisor why her performance was poor, would she have been fired anyway? Or, would they have helped her and her children leave her abuser, stay employed, & find safety? October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I am a #DEI professional. Domestic Violence is an equity & inclusion issue: 🔔 Does your workplace know how to support and protect employees surviving through domestic violence? 🔔 Does your workplace have comprehensive DV policies & protocols? If not, then let’s work together & make sure stories like Mika's never happen again. 📣 Message me about my services.

Hey everyone, this is a mutual aid request for two Black, queer, and trans folks living in Atlanta. They need to raise $5000 quickly to avoid eviction. Please give what you can to help keep these folks housed. https://gofund.me/f855c16f #MutualAid #CommunityCare

🔥Hot Tip: Queer friends/fam are scared, but YOU don't have to BE Trans to care. Or to be scared. Or to be angry. Body autonomy, the right to privacy, or the right to vote have NEVER been guaranteed to all Americans. It was always BAD. Now it's worse, and for a lot more more people. 492 Anti-trans bills (25 passed; 43 failed) Roe v Wade overturned Healthcare clinics closed Birth Control outlawed Books banned Healthcare coverage kneecapped Anti-vaxxers/anti-maskers won Then they added MORE cuts: to vaccine programs, medicaid, SNAP/food assistance, mental healthcare access; ended the child tax credit. Denying trans kids gender affirming care kills kids. Period. Racism & misogynoir make it worse. "More trans people were killed in 2020 than in any year on record; a majority were Black trans women." This is on top of an existing teen mental health crisis, a pandemic, and global climate and economic crises. You know what should be illegal? That lawmakers are allowed to operate this way in a "democracy." But THIS *IS* American democracy. Not 1 amendment ever provided equal protection for ALL. America's founders believed some bodies were worthy; other human bodies were enslaved, treated as replaceable machines and insurable "property." Some weren't even mentioned. Only cisgender hetero white able bodied straight married men were considered a full human. Our "good luck to ya" system of jumping through hoops to exist is inhumane. We *can* vote BUT "eligibility" ≠ protection. We *could* get an abortion ≠ a promise for full access. We can access a healthcare marketplace ≠ UHC. We can move states (if we have the means and $) ≠ freedom. We are ALL humans. We deserve equal rights. Unfortunately the U.S. continues to violate a dozen of the 39 UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) that we helped pen. Nothing new here. This is who we have always been. BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE. We can be better. We can do better. WE WILL BE BETTER. Continue to speak up. Call out the B.S. Call your legislatures. Have the hard convos and push back on the Boomer fam. Give your energy, time, and money to make the world better. Love on people. Turn the fire, the anger, and the rage to some g.d. rainbows; apathy is a death sentence for everyone. #Rage2Rainbows is still fundraising for Trans Rally & Black Trans Media. Don't know where to start? Start here: #DontHateDonate 🤬➡️🌈

“The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” - Malcolm X When Emily O. Weltman, M. Ed. and I started talking about the idea of Rage2Rainbows, it was because we were both inundated with trolls and tired of spending our energy on them-- but wanted to put that energy into something better. That was in 2020, and the trolls have just continued to multiply. As a Black woman who exists on the internet, it is no secret that trolls weaponize their words to attempt to crawl inside your head and make you feel small. I refuse to give them that power. I take my power back by not engaging with them. I used to think that it made me tough to stand an endure the bs, or not block them. I no longer feel that way, not only do I not need to be tough, I am stronger when I disengage. Last week I had a tweet go viral and that led to a barrage of twitter trolls and the tweet eventually made it's way to reddit. In 2023, it seems as if the rampant hate towards Black women has been amplified and only becoming louder. The tweet that went viral was probably one of the top 10 most boring tweets i've ever twote, yet the internet will still find ways to attempt to harm Black women. We are harassed, bullied and stalked, and offered no protection in return. I'd love to say that being bullied online has no impact, but that would not be the truth. We are all just human, and humans have emotions, insecurities and fears. I'd be lying if I said that trolls haven't made me consider quitting the internet. I'd be lying if I said that trolls didn't have me in my head about my looks, my body and my content. However, I refuse to allow strangers on the internet to control how I think about my body, my content or my life. I love the woman I am, but that doesn't mean I am bullet proof. I take my mental health seriously and recognize it is a privilege to be able to prioritize it. So this giving tuesday I will be donating to the The Loveland Foundation through Rage2Rainbows because I believe that mental health care should be accessible to everyone and especially to Black women.

Madison Butler 🏳️🌈🦄 talks about the importance of engaging with others in the comments when it comes to building your audience. 🤝 Do you usually respond to the comments you get?

the people who truly value you will not ask you to be a smaller version of yourself in order to make them comfortable.