You Don't Look Sick

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Health insurance companies operate in a way that prioritizes profit over patient care. They negotiate lower rates with hospitals, often paying only cents on the dollar for medical services. This creates a paradox where an uninsured patient might receive a $500 bill for a procedure, but an insured patient could be billed $3,000 for the same service: all because hospitals inflate prices, knowing insurance will only cover a fraction of the total.This system can trap patients in a financial nightmare. Depending on their deductible and out-of-pocket max, an insured patient could end up paying more than an uninsured patient, on top of already paying hefty monthly premiums. The illusion of protection crumbles when patients realize they are responsible for massive medical bills despite being insured.Insurance companies further exploit patients through denials and appeals, knowing that a percentage of patients will simply give up rather than fight for coverage. This practice saves insurers billions while leaving vulnerable individuals without the care they need.Due to the depersonalization of the medical industry, proper care is often overlooked and sideswiped in pursuit of profit. Patients frequently encounter skepticism from healthcare providers and insurers. Particularly in people with invisible illnesses, the lack of visible symptoms can lead to underestimation of their suffering, resulting in inadequate treatment or outright denial of care. This discrimination exacerbates the physical and emotional toll on patients, who must not only manage their symptoms but also advocate fiercely for their legitimacy.If we’re going to fix the system, we need to start with the root cause: education. When the cost of becoming a doctor is upwards of $300,000, those expenses get passed down to patients, making medical care even less accessible. Instead of addressing this issue, efforts to dismantle the Department of Education only push healthcare further out of reach. Affordable medical care starts with affordable medical education.

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Stolen Land, Stolen Rights

Long before the United States existed, Indigenous tribes lived, cultivated, and protected these lands. Colonization and westward expansion came at the cost of genocide, displacement, and broken treaties. Entire nations were stripped of their land, their culture outlawed, their children stolen and forced into boarding schools designed to erase their identity.Now, imagine this: A foreign power invades the United States. Your family is forcefully removed from your home, relocated to a barren wasteland. Worshiping God is now illegal. Your church is burned to the ground. Your Bible is confiscated. Speaking English is banned. You must now use a language you’ve never heard before. Your children are taken from you, placed in “reeducation centers,” where they are beaten if they utter a single word of the faith or traditions they grew up with.That’s not a dystopian future. That’s history — but it didn’t happen to you.
And the fight against erasure isn’t over.For generations, Indigenous communities have been the stewards of these lands, preserving sacred spaces, wildlife, and ecosystems. Many serve as National Park Service (NPS) employees, Tribal rangers, and conservationists, continuing the work their ancestors started. But today, park staffing reductions are making conservation efforts more difficult for everyone, including those who have protected these lands the longest.The NPS has lost roughly 9% of its permanent workforce in recent years due to budget cuts, voluntary buyouts, and hiring freezes. Fewer rangers mean fewer protections; not just for visitors, but for the lands themselves. Meanwhile, federal policies have expanded logging, drilling, and development on millions of acres of public lands, reducing safeguards that Indigenous leaders and environmentalists have fought to maintain.The same forces that once drove Indigenous peoples from their lands are now pushing them out of the fight to protect it. And when history is erased or rewritten, when protectors are removed, it’s easier for destruction to take its place.If the lands you cherish, the history you claim, and the traditions you defend were erased, would you recognize the loss before there's nothing left to save?

Home, But Not yours

You’re driving down the highway, following every rule. Out of nowhere, another car swerves in front of you, cuts you off, and slams on the brakes. You tap your horn.
They slam it in reverse, and crash right into you.
They jump out of their car, call the police, and pin it all on you.The cops arrive. They don’t check the dash cam. They don’t ask questions.
They listen only to the other driver… and haul you away. No trial. No facts. No defense.
Just your life, turned upside down — on someone else’s word.If due process can be bypassed for anyone, it can be bypassed for everyone.This is exactly what's happening right now.
Immigrants with legal protections are being deported on accusations alone. No court dates. No evidence, sent to some of the most brutal and inhumane detention camps on the planet.Many Americans proudly trace their heritage to European countries, often identifying as Irish, German, Italian, or other nationalities. This reflects a rich history of immigration, in which many European individuals fled their homelands to escape turmoil and seek safety during periods of conflict such as World War II and the Irish Troubles — they were asylum seekers.Additionally, the concept of national borders has evolved over time, significantly impacting the identities and legal statuses of populations. A notable example is the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), which concluded with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This treaty resulted in Mexico ceding approximately 55% of its territory to the United States, including present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.Consequently, individuals residing in these regions found themselves living in a different country without relocating: the border had shifted, not the people. Mexicans in the annexed areas were given the choice to relocate within Mexico's new boundaries or receive American citizenship with full civil rights.This historical context underscores that many who are now considered native to certain U.S. regions were once part of Mexico, highlighting the fluidity of borders and national identities. It also serves as a reminder that immigration is a complex and integral part of American history, affecting diverse populations over time.We don’t always notice when the rules change — until they’re used against us. The same system that slams the door on someone else can just as easily turn and close behind you.
We feel safe when the walls keep others out, until we realize that we're the ones locked inside.

History in Black and White

Imagine being told that your grandfather’s service in Vietnam or World War II no longer mattered. That his sacrifice, his achievements, and his very existence were wiped from the record; removed from textbooks, deleted from archives, and treated as if they never happened.
This is not just hypothetical. The Pentagon has flagged over 26,000 items for removal, including images of the Tuskegee Airmen and other historical contributions made by minorities, all under the guise of eliminating ‘divisive’ content.
This isn't just about soldiers. It’s about whose stories are erased from history... and whose potential is erased from the future.Let’s try an experiment:
Imagine you’re the CEO of a marketing firm. You need to hire someone quickly or you're not going to get a vacation this year!
You’re reviewing three applicants for a leadership position:
- Shenika Sarabi
- Bob Nelson
- Dante Rodriguez
Who would you hire?...
But wait — I haven’t told you their qualifications yet.
Shenika Sarabi has a doctorate in communications and was the Vice President of a prestigious social media company.
Bob Nelson has a GED and works as a long-haul truck driver.
Dante Rodriguez has a Master’s degree in marketing and was valedictorian in high school.
Now, who would you hire?If you hesitated; if your brain automatically favored one name over the others, you’re not alone — and that’s why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives exist: to ensure that qualifications, not biases, determine opportunities.
Without these protections, ethnic minorities are disproportionately overlooked for jobs, leadership roles, and educational opportunities. Removing DEI isn’t just about “fairness;” it actively perpetuates inequality. Many people don’t recognize that systemic discrimination isn’t just about overt racism. It’s about the everyday, split-second judgments that shape who gets opportunities and who doesn’t.Black history has been deliberately suppressed in America for generations. Some of the most egregious examples include:
Lost Cause Ideology: Groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy rewrote Civil War history, glorifying the Confederacy and downplaying slavery.
Rosewood Massacre: In 1923, a violent white mob destroyed the Black town of Rosewood, Florida. The event was omitted from history books for decades.We are not just altering the past by deleting it — we are repeating it. When history is erased, it allows bias to persist unchecked, both in our textbooks and in our workplaces. This is why it's important to preserve these records and programs designed to protect them, lest we become victims to our own actions.

Real Stories, Real People