Our Own Voices

20/03/2025

“Weaponizing Psychiatry: The Tyranny of Labeling Dissent as Mental Illness”

A Minnesota Republican legislator has proposed a bill to declare Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) a real and recognized mental illness!
He was later arrested for soliciting a teen. A felony charge of soliciting a minor to practice prostitution was pending.

This proposal is not only absurd but also dangerous—a blatant attempt to weaponize psychiatry against political dissent. It is an outright attack on free thought, free speech, and the fundamental principles upon which the United States was founded. If allowed to stand, it would set a totalitarian precedent, criminalizing criticism of the government and paving the way for state-sanctioned persecution of political opponents.

HISTORICAL PARALLELS: WHEN PSYCHIATRY IS USED AS A WEAPON

Throughout history, oppressive regimes have used fraudulent psychiatry to silence and punish dissenters:
• Drapetomania: In the 19th century, doctors falsely diagnosed enslaved people with “drapetomania” to explain why they sought freedom—turning natural resistance to oppression into a “mental disorder.”
• Soviet Union: Political dissidents were labeled “mentally ill” and sent to psychiatric wards, where they were forcibly medicated and imprisoned.
• N**i Germany: Those who opposed Hitler’s regime were declared mentally unfit, institutionalized, and subjected to medical experimentation.
• American Indian Boarding Schools: Native American children were forcibly taken from their families, reeducated, and stripped of their culture under the guise of “civilizing” them.

Now, the same tyrannical tactics are being proposed in the United States—this time to silence critics of the current administration and its fascist policies.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS OF LABELING TDS A MENTAL ILLNESS

If TDS were officially recognized as a mental illness, it would directly violate multiple constitutional rights, including:
• First Amendment: Criminalizing political dissent violates the right to free speech, free thought, and political expression.
• Fifth & Fourteenth Amendments: Labeling critics as “mentally ill” would allow the state to detain citizens without due process, stripping them of their legal protections.
• Second Amendment: Under proposed mental health-based gun confiscation laws, homes could be raided, and weapons seized without due process—a direct violation of the right to bear arms.
• Fourth Amendment: The government could use a mental illness label to justify unlawful searches, seizures, and indefinite detainment of individuals who express opposition to the administration.

WHAT AMERICANS MUST DO TO RESIST AND FIGHT BACK

This attack on freedom must not stand. Every American—regardless of political party—must take action now to stop this dangerous proposal before it gains traction. Here’s what citizens can do:
1. Call, Email, and Visit Your Elected Officials: Demand that your state and federal representatives publicly denounce this unconstitutional attack on free speech. Make it clear that any legislator supporting such policies will be voted out.
2. Flood State and Federal Legislatures with Petitions: Organize petitions to oppose the recognition of TDS as a mental illness and demand investigations into any lawmakers proposing such authoritarian measures.
3. Expose and Shame the Politicians Behind This: Use social media, op-eds, and community meetings to publicly expose those who support this bill. Their names and actions must be known so they cannot operate in secrecy.
4. Attend Town Halls and Confront Lawmakers: Show up at public meetings and demand answers from politicians who refuse to condemn this attack on constitutional rights.
5. Engage in Mass Protests and Rallies: Take to the streets, organize marches, and mobilize communities to visibly demonstrate that Americans will not tolerate authoritarianism.
6. Support Lawsuits Challenging Government Overreach: Legal organizations and constitutional scholars must prepare to challenge any attempts to classify political dissent as mental illness. Donate, volunteer, and spread awareness about legal battles to defend civil liberties.
7. Vote Out Tyrants: This proposal is a test balloon to see how much Americans will tolerate. Do not forget who supports these authoritarian measures. Organize mass voter registration drives and ensure that every anti-freedom politician is removed from office.

THIS IS A DEFINING MOMENT FOR AMERICA

If this proposal succeeds, what comes next? Will all political opponents be institutionalized? Will disagreeing with the government be grounds for imprisonment? The United States must not become another Soviet Union, N**i Germany, or authoritarian dictatorship.

This is the moment for all true believers in the Constitution to resist, push back, stand up, speak out, and act.

The choice is clear: Defend freedom now—or surrender to tyranny.

13/03/2025

Near the Southern tips of 🇦🇴 Angola, reside the Mbalantu tribes of 🇳🇦 Namibia. Mbalantu women are known for their headdresses. At the age of twelve, young girls in Mbalantu tribes begin preparing their hair.

Girls are made to, first of all, coat their hair in a thick paste made from finely ground tree bark of the omutyuula tree mixed with fat.

The young girls will live with this thick mixture on their scalp for years before it is subsequently loosened to make the hair visible. Fruit pips of the bird plum are then attached to the ends of the hair with sinew strings.

At the age of 16, long sinew strands that reach the ground are attached to the hair of these girls.

They also go through the Ohango Initiation (a ceremony that gets them accepted as women) in the same year but before this, the hair of the girls is styled into four long, thick braids, known as eembuvi. Now seen as women, their hair goes through another change. A new layer of the tree bark and oil mixture is applied to the hair to ensure further growth.

The long plaits are subsequently arranged into a headdress, which is to show that a woman was married.

Historical records indicate that this headdress was so heavy to the extent that the “upper ends were often attached to a piece of rope or skin, which was fastened around the forehead in order to distribute the load more evenly.”

A woman had to wear this style for several years after marriage but should change it to mirror a new status, such as the birth of a child.

These unique Eembuvi braids re-emerged in the 90’s as Box Braids and have since become an inspiration for many people across the world, even though they are not as long and thick as the Mbalantus.

Shuri's look in Black Panther was inspired by the Mbalantu hairstyle.

12/03/2025

Tamika Shari Bond, founder and CEO of Bond Containers, has launched the first Black woman-owned self-sustainable container home manufacturing facility to provide strong, affordable, and self-sustainable homes. Bond Containers is revolutionizing housing by offering modular homes built in 3-4 weeks, with off-grid backup systems for natural disaster preparedness. This innovative company is set to majorly impact the global modular construction market, projected to reach $175.2 billion by 2025.

09/03/2025

Woman’s History is Herstory

The first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, the first individual to be awarded two Nobel Prizes and still today the only individual with two Nobel Prizes in two different scientific categories: Marie Skłodowska Curie.

Skłodowska Curie developed the term radioactivity, discovered the chemical elements polonium and radium and contributed to develop new cancer treatments. For her scientific dedication and remarkable breakthroughs, she was awarded the 1903 physics prize and the 1911 chemistry prize.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/41umLC1

07/03/2025

“First of all, the music that people call Latin or Hispanic is really Afrikan. So Black people need to get the credit for that. Number two, Latin people are very passionate, and the music that we love is definitely Afro-rooted — whether it’s Bob Marley or Afro-Cuban — because it dēals with rhythms.”
- Carlos Santana