Now that I'm back from the most magical place on earth (aka Disney World) and finally almost recovered from my jet lag and post-Disney dysphoria, I figured it would be an appropriate time to actually introduce myself and give a little background to my diabetic past, present, and future.
I was diagnosed with type one diabetes exactly a year, a week, and a day after I was born--when I was just 13 months old. My mom likes to say that in those infant years, she "had diabetes for me." Over time as I grew, I learned more and more about how to manage the lifestyle I was born into. For me, I never knew life any other way. However, I definitely know about how hard the experience of remembering life before diabetes is. This is because I have a whole crowd of diabetic friends, which takes us into the next chapter of my journey.
When I was 3 years old my family started attending a summer camp for children with diabetes. By the time I was 7, I was all ready to go off on my own for the first time. And the rest is history. I grew up at that camp every summer, and fell more and more in love each time I went back. Eventually I worked there, and made my way through the years of counselor in training, to junior counselor, to senior counselor, to girls' unit leader. Leaving was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But from that experience I gained people in my life that I call family, and more importantly, people who I can go to for help and understanding when it comes to having diabetes. So my first bit of advice is that if you're a parent with a young child who has diabetes, diabetes camp is almost without a doubt a great idea.
Now, I'm a college student at Rutgers University, trying to get by like every other kid my age, except with a few more daily struggles and challenges. I live at school, which I know sometimes isn't considered an option for kids with diabetes. But it is one. It is more than possible, all it takes is some discipline and dedication. I try to stay active as much as possible. When I'm not too stressed about my midterms or too lazy to leave the TV and my roommates, I prefer to run or use the treadmill. I find running is great for stress, although it does take some extra effort to manage my blood sugars after a run. However, diabetes and exercise, like diabetes and most other things, requires both patience and extra effort.
That pretty much wraps up my experience so far. Stay tuned with my blog for upcoming advice on getting by college with diabetes; and other experiences, tips, and tricks to navigate through life in general with diabetes.
Take a look at this video below. This is a video from a Trump rally in North Carolina that took place recently.
In this video we see a Black man walking up the stairs followed by some security officials. We then see a random white guy in a cowboy hat walk over to the Black man & sucker punch him the face. We then see the security officials proceed to tackle the sucker punched Black man to the ground to further toss him out of the event. What we don’t see are the security officials trying to apprehend the white guy who sucker punched that Black guy. There is no other way to interpret this 36 second long video clip. NONE.
But not according to white America who lives & dies by good ole white denial. You know the kind of denial that lets you as a white person make up completely random shit in order to find some angle to justify a crime committed against a Black person. The same kind of denial that has convinced countless white Americans that a grown ass man with a gun stalking a kid walking home from the corner store was justified in murdering the kid (George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin). The same type of denial that has convinced countless white Americans that Black people are super niggers capable of attacking armed people as if we are immune to bullets (Darren Wilson/Mike Brown). The same type of denial that has convinced countless white people that 12 year old kids playing in the park with toy guns is justification for their murder by a cop (Tamir Rice). The same denial that has convinced countless white people that allegedly selling loose cigarettes on the street warrant an individual to be choked to death (Eric Garner). The same denial that has convinced countless white people of the justification for so many senseless Black deaths; it’s too many to name these days.
Let’s look at some of the justifications by more white Americans in regards to this Black man being sucker punched by this white guy shall we:
At least Gary Bertagnolli is upfront with it. Yet to see any evidence of the so-called “shit” that was started.
Ahh yes, Dennis Grzegorzewski with the ole timeless classic “I’m not saying he deserved to get hit, but he may have intended it.” How exactly does one intend to get him if they pose no physical harm to another individual?
Another one from Dennis Grzegorzewski. Exactly how does one cause another to act violent due to an alleged disturbance? Why are you removing personal accountability from the offender?
Here’s a Hispanic dude who more than likely thinks he’s white. Robert Barquero believes that he can equate the knock-out game to that of an assault taking place on a Black guy at a Presidential rally for Donald Trump. This is an example of people tossing out completely random shit in an attempt to make it stick so they can justify a crime committed against a Black person. Sort of like how too many in white society like to say “B-b-but Trayvon Martin wrote bad mean things on his Facebook profile…so that’s why he was killed!” These people can’t be serious. Unfortunately they are.
But how did the Black guy into the event? More than likely he was allowed to be at the event like everybody else. I swear people like Robert Barquero just make up shit for the sake of just making shit up. First off all like I mentioned earlier, there is no proof that the Black man was causing a disruption at the event. All we have is footage of him walking up the stairs followed by security, then him being sucker punched by a random white guy. People like Robert will do their best to plug in imaginary holes in order to make a narrative fit for the justification of crimes committed against Black people. They have to. They choose to live in a world where they honestly see Black as the enemy. They cannot properly function in a world where white people are forced to be 100% held accountable for their actions. It would throw their whole existence in white comfort completely upside down.
My point in sharing this is to remind you all in Black society that too many in white America (and Hispanic America that thinks they are white) honestly do not give a damn about you regardless of what type of visual evidence you put on display that proves one scenario over the one they just casually make up in their minds. These are the same people who buy into every stereotype known to man about Black society. These are the same people voting for Donald Trump simply because Trump talks reckless about minorities…that’s it. These people feel embolden to blame Black people because for far too long they weren’t allowed to just outright blame Black people like the good old days. Now, it’s steadily becoming an all out “We’re White & We’re Always Right” groupthink being transmitted through the ether.
Best thing you can do is to expose this mentality as far as I’m concerned to serve as a warning for Black people who may come across these people in real life.