Sometime in the past week was the tenth anniversary of my first attempt at running away from home.
I was just as much an adult ten years ago as I am today. The difference is that ten years ago it was legal to hit me, vanish my relationships, and sequester me from society.
I look around the apartment I pay for and it’s like a utopia. There is a lock on the door. No one can come in and attack me, no one will destroy my writings. There is my computer—it has access to Wikipedia. There is my bookshelf—where I used to live in fear that my smuggled copy of “The Care and Keeping of You” would be discovered, I now have Hitchens, Pinker, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the spines all facing proudly outwards. Someone lent me their copy of Birthrights, and it’s just sitting there on the nightstand face-up. It poses no danger to my physical safety. There are people on the sidewalk which I can see from my window, and I can hear the neighbors down the hall—I am not alone in the world at the mercy of those who would hurt me.
Most importantly of all, I have friends who cannot be suddenly taken away, never to be seen again. My phone is right there—I could pick it up and call my best friend right now, without putting either of us in danger or risking the relationship being discovered and never hearing from him again.
Gratefulness and anger go well together. I am so happy. And I should have had this ten long years ago.
Do not share images of runaway teenagers.
Do not share posts that contain information about their last known whereabouts. Rip down flyers about runaways when you see them. Teenagers do not run away from home for no reason.
Do not help the state capture people and ship them back like possessions to their owners.
Know, also, that parents often lie about whether their “missing” teenager may be a runaway. Before sharing the image of a teenager believed to be abducted, do your due diligence. Think carefully about whether it is worth the risk that you are merely helping the state capture people desperate to be free.
Happy pride. Liberty and justice for all.
Tommy Crow is a UW Madison economics graduate, philosophy club founder and speaker, and proud former teenage runaway. She writes about religion, youth rights, and academic philosophy at medium.com/@tommycrow.Â
Amazing post!
Awesome post! This is reminiscent of blog posts from the Jeffrey Nadel era, the golden age of NYRA. A return to form. I’ve been waiting to see something like this from you guys. Please keep posting more material like this. Keep it up!
All those state ******** can go to **** for all I care. I don’t give a **** what they say, I’ll defend the free with my life, and stand my own ground.
yo you alright?
…
how toching
Heyifcykue un the south I can help anyone who needs it some
good lord that was emontial
man wrote a whole fanfiction
this is genuinely disgusting what if someone was kid napped and you are going around tearing down flyers,and imagine what their parents think they are probably throwing up that they are so scared that their BABY IS MISSING!!!!!!!!!! this website that you are running is completely and utterly disgusting and you are all sick animals roaming the streets of the world.
i agree…
**** ******* and **** *** ******* you **** ***.
If you dont like this blog, quit reading it.
What a loser.
You hate on those who simply want simple rights that would be allowed to anyone else. The only reason these HUMAN BEINGS cannot have simple rights is because of a simple birthdate.
Do you want to not have real abduction cases misinterpreted?
Give the teens their rights, build safe dormitories for them so they could live their lives apart from enslaving parents, so they could write to police “I’m not missing, I just went from home, all is okay” and the police began to protect their privacy from then instead of capturing…
…Do this, and then you will know for sure that the remaining “missing” flyers are actually about missing persons.
Until then have what you have.
Hey if anyone in the
south south I can help anyone who needs it some