This Juneteenth, we’re not just commemorating freedom, we are calling out the sanitized celebrations and the performative allyship that too often come with it. Juneteenth is more than a celebration of freedom; it is also a reminder: freedom in the United States has always been delayed, restricted, and conditional for Black people. And in 2025, we are watching history repeat itself with dangerous precision.
We are living under the early stages of a fascist regime. Trump is already trying to deploy the military in U.S. cities, roll back voting rights, ban gender-affirming care, and strip away civil rights protections. These aren’t just policies. They’re tactics to erase our people and consolidate power.We are also watching in real time as our Latine and Native siblings and loved ones are being terrorized. Families are being disappeared, children ripped from their homes, entire communities torn apart by militarized violence. But it goes beyond what’s being shown to us.
This is state-sanctioned violence. And it is intentional. It’s meant to divide us. But we know better. We know our struggles are interconnected. We know our liberation is tied.
Black people are also immigrants. There are undocumented Black people navigating anti-Blackness, xenophobia, and the violence of the state all at once. And we will not let them be erased—not in this movement, not in this moment.
This political moment is one of deep repression and fear. We are witnessing the deployment of National Guard troops to threaten–not protect–Black and Brown communities. We are seeing the state criminalize dissent and punish those who dare to speak truth to power. We are watching a coordinated and violent attack on trans and gender non-conforming people, on Black women, and on Women Living with HIV–many of whom hold all of these identities at once.
At the same time, this administration is actively dismantling the HIV infrastructure our communities fought for decades to build. Funding is being slashed. Nonprofit organizations that have been lifelines for people living with HIV are being starved and shuttered. Our people, our advocates, our staff, our friends are losing their jobs, their stability, their sense of safety. Some of our fiercest advocates are being surveilled, doxxed, and quietly erased for simply refusing to back down.
To be Black and living with HIV in this country means navigating compounded violence from the medical system, the criminal legal system, and even within the HIV movement itself. We’re tired of the performative allyship. Tired of being asked to educate people who don’t see our full humanity. We are tired of being silenced by folks that love our culture, but not our critique!
This is not freedom.
This is systemic violence.
At PWN-USA, we are not backing down…we are rising up.
In the spirit of our ancestors and the legacy of Juneteenth, we are proud to launch our HIV RESISTS Plan, a community-centered roadmap for survival, resistance, and transformation through the rest of this year and beyond.
The HIV RESISTS Plan is our collective call to action:
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We resist oppressive policies and fear-based governance by speaking out, organizing locally and nationally, and supporting the right to exist fully and freely.
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We build leadership among Women Living with HIV, especially Black and trans women and gender-expansive people, who are too often excluded from traditional leadership pipelines.
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We influence institutions, legislation, and culture to reflect the truth of our lives and the brilliance of our solutions.
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We share power with other marginalized communities who are also resisting state violence, anti-Blackness, transmisia, and economic abandonment.
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We make space for quiet resistance—for those who cannot take to the streets or speak out loud, but who still show up for the movement in less visible, deliberate, and deeply meaningful ways. Your resistance counts. Your presence matters.
We commit to caring for ourselves and one another because resistance without rest and healing is not liberation, it's survival. We are here to do more than survive. We are here to live, to love, and to thrive together.
As part of this commitment to care, we are proud to announce our plan to launch a PWN Mutual Aid Fund, a community-led fund to provide direct support to our members facing hardship. In a time when the state is defunding our safety nets, we are creating our own. Stay in touch with us for more information about this coming soon.
As we move forward, we invite you to join us:
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If you are a Woman Living with HIV, a person of trans experience, or a gender diverse person and want to be part of a powerful network of sisters and siblings join our membership.
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If you are an accomplice and want to stand with us in solidarity join us as a supporter.
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If you believe in our work and want to help us build and sustain our Mutual Aid Fund and our broader resistance efforts, donate. Every dollar fuels freedom.
With fierce love and radical hope,
Marnina Miller, Co-Executive Director
Evany Turk, Interim Co-Executive Director
Positive Women’s Network-USA
