Fat Black boys are failed by their doctors, failed by nutritionists, failed by a society that doesn’t see us as deserving of treatment and therapy. CW: mentions of eating disorders, medical discrimination, ob*sity, and more. I vividly remember multiple visits to my pediatrician that were centered solely around my eating. As with any parent, my...
Author: Da'Shaun Harrison (Da'Shaun Harrison)
Post
Instead of Posting Black Boxes To Your Instagram, Abolish Whiteness
While Black folks are being beaten, tear-gassed, and arrested en masse right now for protesting—risking our lives in more ways than one—white people are posting… black boxes. I have been organizing for a little over six years now. My first protest was the day of Mike Brown’s murder. Since then, I have seen white people...
Post
Poem: When Tired Isn’t Enough
TW/CW: police brutality/murder, suicide and depression, violence what do you do when “tired” isn’t enough? “i’m tired” isn’t an adequate response to what i’m feeling anymore. murder after murder. slain Black flesh after slain Black flesh. i’m too tired to lament, but also too tired to do anything else. we write, we organize, we cry,...
Post
For Marginalized People In Georgia, The Fight For Survival Intensifies
In Georgia, stay-at-home orders are quickly coming to an end, but the conditions which led us to being quarantined are not. Governor Kemp recently signed an executive order to reopen a number of businesses in Georgia. In that executive order, he names that while few businesses are open now, the majority of them are set...
Post
Celebrating Adele’s Weight “Loss” Promotes Fatphobia and Misogyny
It is necessary for us to seriously assess and wrestle with why we see Adele’s weight loss as inherently good. TW/CW: This article discusses weight change, dieting, eating disorders, and fatphobia. Adele “lost” (more) weight. I say “more” because when she revealed herself for the first time in a long time for Christmas, many people...
Post
To Love and To Be Loved From The Fat Perspective
This is my personal reckoning with the idea that I may never see love in the way that I want to, but also that anyone who reads this has the ability to change that. By Da’Shaun Harrison I lay awake at night thinking deeply about love. What it means to love someone romantically and how...
Post
Healing Is Not Linear And Sometimes That’s Not Comforting
Healing is a messy journey, and journeys—sometimes long and unbearable—do always lead to a destination. My favorite album by Beyoncé is Lemonade. A Black Southern gothic masterpiece, the album is an ode to Black women who experience heartbreak, who mourn, who explore, and who heal and grow in Love. A Love story; not only to...
Post
Love: A Dish Unpleasant Without All The Ingredients
Love is a journey. And just because it did not exist in one moment does not mean it never can. The perfect dish takes practice, time, and skill. One of my favorite songs growing up was “God Favored Me” by Hezekiah Walker, inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. The start of the first verse of that...
Post
Leaning Into Insecurity and Ugliness As An Essential Politic
I want us to know Insecurity as intimately as we know the marginalized pieces of ourselves: as valid, as identities, and as political. insecure[ in-si-kyoor ] adjective subject to fears, doubts, etc.; not self-confident or assured: not confident or certain; uneasy; anxious: not secure; exposed or liable to risk, loss, or danger: insecurity[ in-si-kyooredē ]...
Post
We are Witnessing The CDC’s Violent Eugenicist History in Real-Time
To this day, the CDC continues to refer to “obesity” as an epidemic, and has even gone as far as to say that fat people are at “higher risk” of contracting and dying from COVID-19. CW: This essay explores anti-fatness and eugenics, and mentions death, medical genocide, and more. Towards the end of February, many...