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𝒀𝒐, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏, 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝑺𝒍𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒔, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 5❜5❞, 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 5❜6❞ 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏❜ 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉, 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒕

Nnan - Young M.A

I want that kind of love where I don’t want no one but you. I want that kind of love that last through the summer. I want that kind of love that doesn’t fall when the leaves do and dies when the grass does. I want that kind of love that blossoms and grows all year round.

In many cultures, ethnic groups, and nations around the world, hair is considered a source of power and prestige. African people brought these traditions and beliefs to the Americas and passed them down through the generations.

In my mother’s family (Black Americans from rural South Carolina) the women don’t cut their hair off unless absolutely necessary (i.e damage or routine trimming). Long hair is considered a symbol of beauty and power; my mother often told me that our hair holds our strength and power. Though my mother’s family has been American born for several generations, it is fascinating to see the beliefs and traditions of our African ancestors passed down. We are emotionally and spiritually attached to our hair, cutting it only with the knowledge that we are starting completely clean and removing stagnant energy.

Couple this with the forced removal and covering of our hair from the times of slavery and onward, and you can see why so many Black women and men alike take such pride and care in their natural hair and love to adorn our heads with wigs, weaves, braids, twists, accessories, and sharp designs.

Hair is not just hair in African diaspora cultures, and this is why the appropriation and stigma surrounding our hair is so harmful.

So, India is dying.

Look, I know a good number of you are from the US and things aren't amazing there either, but my country is literally on the brink of collapse. So I'd love it if we could talk about that for a minute.

If you can't do anything else, please just read and reblog.

A second COVID wave has taken out the healthcare system. There are no more hospital beds. There's an oxygen shortage. There's a critical vaccine shortage. The Central Government has thrown its hands up and is passing the baton to the State Governments to do what they can.

There are over 16 million covid cases. A record 330,000 new cases reported yesterday - comparable to the US at its peak. 187,000 dead as of today.

There is no plan.

Mass cremations are taking place. The cremation grounds are running day and night and they are short on wood. People are watching their loved ones die while waiting for a hospital bed, and then they're unable to give them the proper burial rights.

Hospitals are overwhelmed. Patients are being confined, two to a bed. They're the lucky ones.

We are on the verge of people dying in the streets.

This is the second-most populous country in the world. The largest democracy. A country that encapsulates over 15,000 years of recorded human history and has endured everything from famine to invasion to colonisation.

We might be at the end. This might be the thing that does us in.

People are dying.

People are dying.

People are dying and there is no plan.

More good news? Variants are popping up. A double mutation strain has shown up. It is resistant to current vaccines. This will not go away. This is the devastation they warned of when the anti-maskers were out protesting the minor inconvenience of covering their face in public.

My country is on the verge of an emergency state. Our government has failed us. This is as dire a situation as it ever could be.

Look. I don't do much with my life. I write fics, some of you have read them and that's pretty much it. I spend my days with my head in the clouds because that's where I like to be.

But two days ago, my grandmother tested positive, had to be taken to hospital and the ambulance caught fire.

She barely made it to the urgent care she needs.

So, here I am, using whatever meager platform I have to cobble this request together. Because I have to do something.

If you can, donate.

Or spread the word.

Help. Please.

Attention everyone, another young Black woman is MISSING with no news coverage. Her name is Nyrah Barner Curry.

Please share. Please repost. Please help find her.