Showing up for Monique

Monique Renee Harris is a graphic artist, textile designer, business owner, mother, disability justice activist, and Black woman with spastic cerebral palsy. She lives with her son in Emeryville, California.

We are a group of friends, comrades, attendants and neighbors organizing this fundraiser for Monique because we want to bring her some peace and ease in this time when she is caring for her son, who has been in the hospital since June.

Monique has been a longtime community leader and activist working to support policies that make sure people with disabilities get the support they need to live and thrive independently in their communities. She’s spoken out against ableism and organized with people with disabilities and allies to fight for investment in home care, for domestic workers rights and social justice.

In June, Monique’s son Brandon was rushed to the emergency room and is still in the hospital now (July). She’s been going to the hospital daily to be with him while trying to manage her business.

Then, her apartment flooded as a result of blocked plumbing in her multistory building. After building management brought in a fan to attempt to dry the carpet, two more floods occurred a week later. Monique assessed that the conditions of her apartment, after three floods, carpet soaked and not drying, was no longer safe to live in so with support from friends, moved to a nearby hotel with her cats.

She’s now back home and working with building management to make the apartment safe again but in the meantime has built up expenses from the hotel costs and transportation.

Monique has long spoken out for communities - for people of color, for people with disabilities, for women and for domestic workers. She’s given back as a mom and as an artist.

She needs us to show up for her now. Will you join me in making a contribution to her Emergency Fund? Our goal is to raise $2,500.

#MoniquesCommunity #DisabilityJusticeNow

Photo by Brooke Anderson Photography