October is breast cancer awareness month.

I read this Vox article two years ago about pinkwashing and it stuck with me since. I noticed that there was suddenly pink and pink ribbon merchandise EVERYWHERE.

I noticed the same thing during Pride. Rainbows as far as the eye can see.

This October I want to take more conscious action. I have two goals: (1) to make a donation to a local group working to help BIPOC access breast cancer treatment and (2) to educate myself better on what breast cancer actually is, how it works, and the challenges patients face.

I just purchased a copy of Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Diaries. A new Penguin Classics edition was just released. I read Lorde’s Sister Outsider earlier this year and it changed my life. I expect nothing less from The Cancer Diaries. I hope reading this book will keep me focused on the actual people. People with breast cancer who are jumping through the three ring circus that is American healthcare to get treatment and live. I do not want to focus my attention or money on corporations who think “breast cancer pink” is the new way to sell everything.