my professor made a really good point that white/nonblac ppl sharing violent videos/images of black people being killed/assaulted on social media is akin to people going to watch lynchings. its a social event and a form of entertainment. we all know by now that there are ways to share that violence is happening without having to reproduce that violence and potentially retraumatize people so like...consider that next time you want to share a video of a police shooting
why is iziya always whipping out his knife, though?? if you threaten someone with a stronger weapon than you, chance are you end up dead or significantly fucked
it's like being a woman, angry, and hitting a man and then just standing there. you either knock him out or you run, because he's going to fuck you up
Annnnnnd now he's talking about a time when he felt a youth he worked with at a summer camp was going to kill him and so he 'restrained' them (read: assaulted tbh) and how a 'robust, if thats the politically correct term these days' woman sat on the kid and saved him This has nothing to do with class
There are approximately 1.3 million youth that call the streets home. Children under the age of 18 account for 39% of the homeless population, and one in seven young people between the ages of 10 and 18 will runaway. Youth ages 12-17 are more likely to become homeless than adults. (source)
According to estimates by the Urban Institute, nearly 1 in 5 youths under the age of 18 will run away at least once.
I spoke with T. Salinger, who is more than a little familiar with being a teenage runaway. At fifty-three, Salinger has overcome the struggles of living on the street and is here to share her story with us.
“I was brutally abused as a child. I remember as far back as age three, being abused by my mother and afraid of her even as a toddler.”
The abuse was not just physical. When asked about her reasons for leaving, Salinger stated, “I was told over and over again that I was the worst thing that ever happened to her (my mother), and that she wished she’d never had me.”
Salinger was fifteen when she left home for good.
“It got worse the older I got. At fifteen, she (my mother) tried to kill me. I was terrified. I had no plan and no where to go, but I ran away. My neighbors found me hiding and let me spend the night.”
Unfortunately, Salinger’s story is not an uncommon one. 46% of runaway and homeless youth report being physically abused, while 38% report being emotionally abused by a family or household member.
Most runaway youth receive no help or support, but ignoring the problem only adds to it.
When asked if she received any help, Salinger stated, “No. I met some kids who were a little older than me and were also on their own. We formed a group and supported each other. We’d do random odd jobs and eventually got the oldest one (18) to rent an apartment that we all lived in.”
It’s no surprise that adults are an untrusted entity when it comes to runaway/homeless youth. If they turn their heads to the need, they’re ignoring the gruesome outcome of their chosen ignorance.
When asked, Salinger stated that she did not trust adults at the time, and wouldn’t have accepted anyone’s help had they offered. “I’d have stayed with my friends,” says Salinger. “I was very distrustful of adults. Every one of them in my life had betrayed me and didn’t seem to care. I was fifteen and on my own and no one had any idea if I was okay. I wasn’t going to school and no one checked up on me.”
While Salinger is alive and well now, many are not so lucky. It is estimated that 5,000 youth are assaulted on the streets, and ultimately die of illness or suicide. (source)
The National Runaway Safeline works to create a safe space for runaway youth. On their site, you’ll find a call line as well as a chatline, an email to write in to, and a forum to seek support on.
The first step to changing the statistics is reaching out. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
because instead of being gone im strugglin to keep moving to keep speaking when therees a hand over my mouth to keep smiling when thats just leading you on to keep being sober when i just want to drown
i am going to run if i get up i am not going to come back alive please stop touchin me i dont w ant thiss
Me at people who think it's safer to raise their kids in a small town: in a group of twenty I have been assaulted by three people and I literally can't say anything about it for fear of repercussions
