http://www.nationalreview.com/article/424465/white-friends-therapy-racism Woman Asks ‘White Friends’ to Pay for Her Therapy to Deal with Stress from Racism
White people owe it to her because they caused it.
By Katherine Timpf — September 22, 2015
A 29-year-old Thai-Cambodian woman has launched a fundraiser asking her “white friends” to pay for her therapy — claiming that they owe it to her because stress caused by racism is why she needs it in the first place.
Rinna Rem is from the Portland, Ore., area and suffers from a chronic illness that affects the heart and connective tissues called “Marfan syndrome.” According to Rem, the condition is much worse for her because of all of the racism.
“The stress of living as a Thai-Cambodian woman in such a white city replete with constant interpersonal and institutional racism has a big toll on my health and wellbeing,” Rem wrote in the description of her campaign, which is appropriately titled “White Friends, Pay for My Therapy.”
“I see an amazing therapist to cope with this s[***], but I spend $100/month on therapy for bi-weekly appointments,” she continued. “Now it’s your turn to pay!”
#share#At the time of publication, Rem had raised $1,160 of her $1,200 goal so far. She told the Daily Dot that although her original goal was $600, she decided to raise it after reading hateful posts about her campaign on Reddit.
“That caused more emotional distress, which I knew I would spend a lot of time processing in therapy,” she said.
Rem also told the Daily Dot that some of her friends of color had attempted to donate, but she told them not to:
“I tell them, ‘No no no, this is for my white friends,’” she said.
If she exceeds her goal, Rem said she will begin attending therapy on a weekly instead of bi-weekly basis.
