Care In The Aftermath Of The Clapback Heard Round The World

Marissa Jenae Start Date: Aug 25, 2016 - End Date: Nov 7, 2016

My Travel Story

by: Marissa Jenae Start Date: Aug 25, 2016 - End Date: Nov 7, 2016
A lot of folks lately have been asking how they can best support me and the work I do, and I always come back to the theme of care. So many Black people, at all different levels of the movement, have undergone extreme trauma and depression. Very rarely do we get
opportunities and spaces to heal.

Now I have a specific opprotunity for healing and a very tangible way for you to support me. I have been invited to go on a highly-intentional self-care trip to Jamaica this November and I am asking for support in order to fund my trip. Last year, shortly after our action with Bernie Sanders that helped shift the tone of the presidential election, I was offered a similar opportunity to take some space and time to heal. But even though I had undergone a national smear campaign, had recieved hundreds of death threats, and paid for that action dearly in some of my close communities, I was too afraid to ask for help to fund it.

This year, in an effort to honor my personal commitment to healing, joy, and asking for the things I need--I am asking for you to help make this trip possible for me. Not only does it come at a much needed juncture of transition in my life and after a year of intense high-functioning depression, this trip would fulfill a lifelong dream. I have never been out of the country before and never thought it would be possible for me ever up until recently. I am asking you to help me make this truly amazing opprotunity into a reality!

I am also asking you to consider in what ways you "support the movement" and in what ways I have personally contributed to your development and learning. So much of the work I and others do (and have done) is unpaid and undervalued. On top of facing physical violence and harassment, dedicating endless hours, and sacrificing my personal reputation, I've always remained financially independent--but I am not superwoman.

So if I have in any way contributed to your learning or to the common good, I am asking you to help support this campaign. If you've ever liked my writing, had a meaningful conversation with someone around my action, ever been touched by one of my Facebook posts, ever benefited from me simply being me, please consider contributing to this trip. Especially if you are a white person benefiting from my continued labor, consider how valuable that labor is to you and help me reach this goal of taking this much needed trip.

Your contributions are not only an affirmation of all my labor, but they are a very tangible act of care for me in this time. More than simply helping to fund a trip, it will allow me to take some much needed space and time to not only heal from this past year, but be renewed to do the work ahead of me.

Thank you in advance for supporting me in this specific moment in whatever way you can! And thank you for assisting me in learning to ask for help when I need it, and to not live bound to the "Strong Black Woman" trope that threatens to kill Black women everywhere.

Please contribute and share widely! I'll keep sharing the fundraiser until I've met my goal. If you have airline miles you would like to donate to me, let me know. Also if you would rather donate directly to my PayPal, I have included it here.

As I like to say "White supremacy is death and the one who calls you out from death is a blessing". For all those whom I have blessed in these past years, please consider blessing me in this way!

Updates

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