Our personal stories can't be erased
Sharing our experiences helps forge alliances around the issues that matter most
Hello! For those of you who don’t recognize my name, I’ve been a fellow with Community Change and ChangeWire in various capacities since 2019. With Domenica’s imminent leave, you’ll be seeing me in your inbox for the rest of the year.
I am a writer and editor living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And as a long-time fellow writing about my personal experiences with poverty and safety net programs, I know firsthand how powerful it can be to share our lived experiences with others and forge new communities, relationships, and alliances.
It might be an understatement to say that the last month has been rough, but under the hardship and fear are some core lessons that will be valuable for us all to hold onto: 1. We need each other. 2. Our stories have always mattered and matter now more than ever. 3. Continuing to learn from, honor, and uplift our histories is crucial for understanding how to move forward collectively.
Sometimes the small moments of our own personal histories are the ones that matter most—and they’re the ones this new administration can’t erase.
Take Terrance Sullivan’s story—it starts at a young age, playing basketball with the neighborhood kids. His friend handed him a full-size Gatorade from their second fridge, and with it, Terrance’s first glimpse of the racial wealth divide.
In his first essay for ChangeWire, our fellow from Kentucky writes, “I often heard the tale of the American Dream; if you work hard, you succeed. But I saw my people—Black people—working HARD. We worked multiple jobs at a time, taking what was available just to survive. My grandma and mom cleaned some of those same houses I visited as a guest. But the opportunities were not there for us.”
Beyond the Byline with Terrance Sullivan
EW: In your story, you share a little about your experience coming home to a sometimes-empty fridge. What do you wish readers understood about living with housing and food insecurity?
TS: That it rarely is the fault of the family or the people who experience it. Often the hardest workers have the least. And as a kid you feel it every day at school. Many of the issues that lead to disparate outcomes in both school and life start with the lack of resources so many of us face and society’s need to punish instead of understanding and addressing.
EW: In your essay you write about developing an economic policy plan in seventh grade. Do you see connections between your ideas then and the work you do now?
TS: Yes. I work on racial justice issues and a lot of that is understanding the barriers to opportunity that exist for groups like mine. My idea or hope has not changed, but I know my economic policy ideas are a hard sell in the U.S. I do think as a form of reparative justice we can get closer than we are, so I push for things like targeted lending, pay equity and transparency, and strong equal protection policies to help people be treated more fairly.
EW: When you dream about an equitable future where all families have access to housing and food, what, specifically, do you envision, and what types of policies might bring these dreams to fruition?
TS: Targeted lending for marginalized communities for housing and business loans. Student loan relief and affordable college. Reparative justice for decades of disinvestment in our communities. And maybe actual commitment to Diversity Equity and Inclusion efforts.
To read more of Terrance’s work, visit his Substack.
Editor’s Picks
Brandon Sutton writes about the ways looking to Black history—from 1619, through Reconstruction and Jim Crow, provides a blueprint for resisting authoritarianism.
Alondra Trevizo’s experience with trying to pay for the exorbitant costs of her mother’s medications offers one of many personal stories about the necessity of programs like Medicare and affordable healthcare.
Our childcare storyteller Val Weisler debuts with her own personal story that provides insight into the caregivers—like her—who provide childcare to others to make ends meet and are often underpaid and underappreciated for their work.
ChangeWire Fellow Nateya Taylor speaks to three people whose lives were vastly improved by safety net programs—and what we can do to protect these programs in the face of the administration’s threats to cut these vital services.
ICYMI
As the structures and programs we all rely on are cut or are under threat, finding ways to support each other through mutual aid is becoming more important than ever. Take a look back at when Deborah Coffy wrote about three organizations in Florida that provide food, education, mutual aid and community that might serve as models for many other places and communities around the country.
On the horizon
Coming up, keep your eye out for an article by Mikka Kei MacDonald about the parallels between Trump’s abuse of executive power and immigration enforcement and Japanese American internment during WWII. And Brandon Sutton continues his Black History Month series with a piece about the threats to education for Black Americans—and the reasons we must organize to protect equal education for all.
Alumni corner
Bobbi Dempsey is back with ChangeWire as our Safety Net Fellow! Check out a recent article she wrote about the importance of eliminating bias within safety net programs, and keep your eye out for her upcoming articles featuring the personal stories of the people facing the loss of support if important safety net programs are cut.