Caitie Gutierrez

Growing up, I was disconnected from my Afro-Indigenous Puerto Rican culture through propaganda, psychological warfare, and forced assimilation. Similarly to what our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander cousins have experienced, there has been a social, political, and economic push to “improve the race” towards a supposed ideal of whiteness. The cultural identity of Boricuas has been systemically attacked by the residential school system, academia, and .

In a time where social distancing is being encouraged by the CDC, people with mental health and chronic health issues are finding ourselves at risk of more than just of contracting and spreading COVID-19. According to Project LETS, a New York based organisation that builds peer-led communities of support, education & advocacy for folks with lived experience of mental illness, trauma, Disability, and/or neurodivergence, "there is an inevitable mental health crisis waiting in the wings.