@lavendermoonbun My first coming out at work. My manager (who I didn’t have a great relationship w) asked why I looked sad I said because tomorrow I can’t go to my first pride because I didn’t book annual leave. She said “oh no, you just did! Enjoy your first pride!”. I sobbed w joy
2 years ago today, I came out to my coworkers when they asked everyone to show 1 thing that represents us. I decided to show the trans flag. My heart was racing...I was so nervous but figured now was the time. Then, no reaction. Until finally someone said, "What country is that?"
In contrast to other North American colonies, mortality rates among South Carolina’s enslaved population exceeded birth rates due to the harsh conditions of rice cultivation. On some rice plantations, like Gowrie in Jasper County, S.C., the mortality rate approached 50%.
Unsanitary conditions, physical and sexual abuse, inadequate nutrition and shelter, and unrelenting hard labor made enslaved people highly susceptible to disease, heatstroke, and life-threatening injuries that could quickly become deadly.
After being put to work in the rice fields, the enslaved only lived an average of 3-5 more years. (This is a conservative estimate.) They stood in water for hours at a time in the sweltering sun, subject to alligators, poisonous snakes, rats, and disease carrying biting insects.
Of all the cash crops grown in South Carolina, the one that was the most labor intensive—and deadly to enslaved Africans—was rice. While death rates for those growing other cash crops eventually dropped, those for rice remained high.
Rice planters were eager to buy skilled Africans because they increased chances of success—and profit margins. Rice is a very technical crop to grow, and the peoples of Africa’s Rice Coast began cultivating the grain 3,000 years ago.
Rice plantation owners got rich due to the knowledge and stolen labor of enslaved Africans. One referred to his rice plantations as "gold mines." And with profit rates as high as 26%, they were. Some of these men were millionaires—in the colonial and antebellum periods.
In the spring of 1760, a ship carrying enslaved West Africans made its way into Winyah Bay on its way to Georgetown, S.C. The ship’s journey began at Elmina Castle in Ghana, the first European slave-trading post in all of sub-saharan Africa, several months earlier.
Something special about how I ask questions i stopped saying
“Can, Could, Should, Why”
I replaced them with
“What, Will, Who, How, Where”
Kill the passive language. Speak with clarity and authority
See what I did there?
👉🏾made my problem OUR problem
👉🏾was up front about what would prevent me from accepting a position
👉🏾Asked for their help with the solution