Content warning: This article mentions suicide, addiction, and assault.
I have been through some things — being molested at age 11, going through two abusive relationships, having a baby at 21, (a baby boy named Micah Jamal Anthony), and losing a baby when I was 27 years old.
I lost my fiance at 27 years old to HIV, AIDS, and chronic alcoholism.
I lost both sets of grandparents.
I was infected with HIV at 26 years old.
Most die from HIV/AIDS.
I’ve been through domestic abuse twice.
I’m a domestic abuse survivor.
I’ve had four nervous breakdowns.
I tried to kill myself at the age of 20, twice.
I tried to kill myself in 2013 when my son Kenneth was born with health conditions and heart problems. I blamed myself for what happened to my baby. I went to jail for 90 days at D.C. Jail and lost my second apartment.
I had to go live with my mom and dad.
I lost some people who were close friends.
I lost everything I had.
They just set mine and my kids’ stuff outside. I was nobody.
I heard how to get storage and how to earn those things back.
And I learned how to give back to my community.
I am an HIV survivor.
I am an HIV activist.
I am a former sex worker.
I am a former drug user.
I am a mental health activist.
I am a parent of three young kings.
I am a Black woman.
I am a boys’ mom.
I am a bisexual woman.
I am also nonbinary.
I am an activist, volunteer, and community advocate.
I am also a student.
I am pro-choice for women’s health.
All lives matter to me.
Be nice to sex workers.
Be nice to drug users.
I am a HIPS volunteer.
Of all the things I am
One thing for sure, I am
A survivor of everything.
