BEEN SLEEPIN FOR TOO LONG: UNI Q'S REVENNNNNGE!!!!! Says Uni Q. Mical , Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 3:45 PM, in Labels: AIDS, brooklyn, job, new york, nycahn, VOCAL

peeps, friends, foes who knows...

ya gurrral is back.

and it's been a helluva turnaround since last november (on my last post, i wasn't even 21 yet!)

but now that i've graduated from hampshire college, gave them my proverbial black gay ass to kiss with a graduation speech in front of thousands, got a SICK position as a community organizer in brooklyn (whoop-whoooop!) with new york city aids housing network/v.o.c.a.l. (voices of community advocates and leaders), i'm ready to make sum nooooiiiise again. in fact, i don't just want to. i NEED to.

upon arriving here to bk, LITERALLY fresh outta school with only a 2-week "break to reflect" at home, mostly spent w/ my peoples anyways, i saddled (sic) right into work. and this--this is no orrrrdinary work.

my job, new york city aids housing network (nycahn)/v.o.c.a.l. is one of few org's in the nation that organizes low-income people living with hiv/aids (plwha's, oh the acronyms) and former/active drug users to change laws and policies impacting their lives. so i as staff do the daunting task of outreach, through teach-ins, doorknocking, phonebanking, etc to ensure that we maintain our membership base of directly affected individuals. this is unlike anything i've ever seen or been in, as in my homebase b-more, and other cities across the nation, i've only ever witnessed advocacy groups--u kno, the ones that "speak on behalf" of individuals who are directly impacted. that, to me, reinforces hierarchy and doesn't change power dynamics for people who are living this shit EVERYDAY. i, for one, know i'm not hiv+ or an active drug user (outside of the magic dragon lol), so how would i know what the issues are?

these folks put face to name for politicians who create laws and have the power to take away the fucking little that poor folks already get. so folks who are living with the virus live in a variety of means: emergency housing or Single Room Occupancies, which the city pays $2000/month for a ROOM, supportive housing, or independent living, ie, your own apartment. but check this: IF YOU ARE A LOW-INCOME PLWHA IN NYC WHO RECEIVES HASA (public assistance for plwha who are hiv symptomatic) AND A SUPPLEMENTAL INCOME (SSI/D, veteran's benefits, etc), YOU ARE REQUIRED TO PAY UPWARDS OF 60-80% OF UR INCOME TOWARDS YOUR RENT FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING. HENCE, YOU ARE LEFT WITH $344 TO LIVE OFF OF FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH. $11 DOLLARS A DAY.

in what fucking world is this alright?

so, instead of bitching on about how this isn't alright/humane, nycahn gathered directly impacted people to urge albany to pass a law mandating a "No More Than 30% Towards Our Rent" campaign. For some reason, these 11,000 new yorkers are the only low-income group that have to pay more than 30% of their income towards their rent, EVEN with a comprimsed immune system, and the necessity of basic needs constantly looming overhead. HASA hasn't changed the $344 number since the 80s. Believe it or not, it WAS $330 until last month, when there was a--YIPPEE!!!--FOURTEEN DOLLAR INCREASE.

in my nearly four months of working here, i've witnessed some serious strides with this bill, and relearned everything from my american government class--even the "i'm just a bill" song played through my head a few times. it's currently stuck in the ways & means committee in the more progressive assembly, though it passed the conservative senate with a SWOOP of a 52-1 vote. SHOUT OUT TO SENATOR TOM DUANE FOR HIS PASSIONATE 3:30AM SPEECH TO PASS THIS BILL, SINCE IT IS HIS BILL AFTER ALL:




politics bore me to shreds still, but the art of lobbying is something FIERCE and so satisfying and movement-shaking. i've been back and forth to albany with members, getting the hang of these pow-wows where members talk to politicians as if they were old buddies in order to PUSH this bill, figure out strategies to get it passed, who else do we need to meet with, what action/protest we might do if an xyz politician isn't persuaded, etc. willllld shit. to think that a bill like this was not introduced UNTIL 2009 means that thousands of people have lost their homes, and have had to move back into SROs, which often aren't kept tidy, don't have kitchens, and have some of the dimmest fucking wall colors i've seen. again, the city pays $2000/month to maintain these one-room shacks that aren't even the size of cubicles for upwards of 45-60 people in a building at a given time, INSTEAD of paying the share for people's rent. in the long run, it would save the city MILLIONS. POINT BLANK.

PHEW! i don't know when to shutup. but when i sign on for something, it literally becomes me. i haven't thought about myself in 3 and a half months--though that's ALL i thought about in school, locating me and my grew up poor-black-darkskinned-queer ass, and suddenly, i'm working with communities that force me to take 10 steps back to recognize even my own privilege as a college graduate who's employed enough to move away from home and support myself at 21. it's very rare i meet someone my age, as everyone's at least 10 yrs older than me. for one, i'm the only female-bodied person on staff, also the youngest (not the only Black, thank God), and brand fucking new in new york. so i got dues to pay, asses to whoop, and maaaad shit to prove.

but now, it's time to reclaim time for myself. here's one of my ways.

i'm sharing my world again. hope ya listenin.

<3
uniQ.

ps. i ain't even get to the drug user component of my work! that woulda been an essay...stay tuned...