Dr. Mercedes Samudio

Spend $45+ on Witching Season to get an EXCLUSIVE Witches of Oz #1 Variant Cover by @michelacacciatore.bsky.social

#Hedda is an amazing film!

💯💯💯

WITCHING SEASON - A Witch Horror Comic Anthology is LIVE on Kickstarter!

"A 150+ page Horror Anthology filled with stories about WITCHES, WARLOCKS, and FAMILIARS from some of the biggest names in comics!"

www.kickstarter.com/projects/phi...

are you between 16-30 and looking to get a leg-up into #comics? Comics Youth are running a free upskilling programme for marginalised creatives (16-30) interested in a career in the Comics Industry- check out their website for details;

comicsyouth.co.uk/comics-decla...

Cute little weekend reminder that Witching Season is on kickstarter now.

Witching Season cover A by Skylar Patridge

WITCHING SEASON is live now on kickstarter!

A 150+ page horror comic anthology from me and Lifeline Comics. Excited for everyone to see what we've been building for most of this year🩸🌙

Cover A by @skyepatridge.bsky.social

More info here:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/phi...

Structural racism isn’t just about bias or hate; it’s about systems:

It’s “the totality of ways societies foster racial discrimination through mutually reinforcing systems of housing, education, employment, health care, and criminal justice” (Kisa & Kisa, 2025).

Structural racism as a fundamental cause of health inequities: a scoping review - International Journal for Equity in Health Background Structural racism is increasingly recognized as a fundamental cause of health inequities. It operates through laws, institutional policies, and systemic practices that disproportionately disadvantage racially and ethnically minoritized populations. Although the body of evidence on structural racism and health is expanding, much of it remains fragmented across disciplines and sectors. This scoping review synthesized peer-reviewed research by examining the pathways through which structural racism affects health, the most frequent outcomes, and the interventions and policies implemented to address these disparities. Methods The review adhered to frameworks by Arksey and O’Malley, Levac et al., and the Joanna Briggs Institute. Six databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Scopus) were searched for English-language, peer-reviewed studies published before February 15, 2025, examining structural, systemic, or institutional racism in relation to health. Two reviewers independently screened and extracted data, and findings were analyzed using thematic synthesis. Results Eighty-three studies met the inclusion criteria, covering healthcare, housing, the criminal legal system, environmental exposures, and other intersecting sectors. Structural racism was consistently associated with adverse outcomes in maternal and infant health, cancer, cardiovascular disease, HIV care, mental health, and COVID-19. Key mechanisms included redlining, residential segregation, carceral practices, discriminatory clinical treatment, and environmental injustice. Intersectional burdens were most pronounced among Black, Indigenous, LGBQ, immigrant, and socioeconomically marginalized groups. Although some promising interventions were identified, including culturally tailored perinatal care, community health worker models, and equity-focused quality improvement, few had been rigorously evaluated or embedded in broader structural policy changes. Conclusion Structural racism was found to operate across institutional and societal systems to perpetuate health disparities. While targeted interventions show promise, significant gaps remain in the development and implementation of scalable, evidence-based reforms. To achieve health equity, public health strategies must prioritize cross-sectoral actions for confronting and dismantling the structural conditions that maintain racial injustice. This synthesis highlights the urgent need for scalable policy reforms and structural accountability measures across sectors.

Read the full study here:
equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

It’s the structure that keeps inequity running even when no one individual is “being racist.”

Naming it helps us target the system, not just the symptoms.

Structural racism isn’t just about bias or hate; it’s about systems:

It’s “the totality of ways societies foster racial discrimination through mutually reinforcing systems of housing, education, employment, health care, and criminal justice” (Kisa & Kisa, 2025).

YouTube video by DMV Comic Book Nerd September 2025: Eyes of Wakanda, Iyanu, KPop Demon Hunters, and more!

At the latest DMVCBN TV / Movie Club, @co_mixed, @drmercedessamudio.bsky.social, @bigboynerd.bsky.social and I talked about #KPopDemonHunters #Iyanu #EyesOfWakanda, and more! We also had a great discussion about #Afrofuturism in media.

Please like and subscribe!
youtu.be/pya6o56MMHs

A traditional portrait illustration of Batman. Drawn by Christine Brunson.

A traditional sketch of Jake as the Scarecrow on a blank variant for Adventure Time. Drawn by Christine Brunson.

Traditional sketches of Finn as Batman and Jake as the Scarecrow on connecting blank variants for Adventure Time. Left one drawn by Suburban Fuzz Designs and the right one drawn by Christine Brunson.

A traditional illustration of a Scarecrow from DC Comics. Drawn by Christine Brunson.

Batman Day at Soundwave Comics was a lot of fun! Good to hang out at the comic shop with friends and make some new ones. I was sketching some and drew Batman and Scarecrow. Then I had a sketchcover commission of Jake as the Scarecrow while Suburban Fuzz Designs drew the Finn as Batman!

#Art

a cartoon of batman standing on top of a building with a lightning bolt in the background . ALT: a cartoon of batman standing on top of a building with a lightning bolt in the background .

Happy Batman Day y’all!!

💖

🥹💖

So happy to have met you at @theuncannyexp.bsky.social this year!! 🥹💖🎉

Today’s my 40th Birthday!!

I’m proud of the journey here, and the Black woman I’ve become while getting here!

Trust me, y’all will never know the violence it took to make me this soft!

“And Still I Rise!”

🥹🥹

What’s the best advice you have for someone stepping into their 40s in the next 3 days?

Hey y'all...

...I just updated my site...

..and it totally reflects who I am now, who I support, and all the other cool things I'm doing!

Check it out and let me know what y'all think:

shameproofparenting.com

YouTube video by Sounds True Can You Heal Intergenerational Trauma? | Resmaa Menakem

I shared this video in my multicultural counseling class, and I think it’s so resonant to where we are now:

youtu.be/3_aGbH1DuxA?...

What do y’all think?

For Black parents:

Center your mental wellness. Limit media exposure. Advocate at your kids' schools for trauma-informed practices. Lean on community. Trust your intuition and gut feelings. Model calming the body.

After events like the Kirk shooting, racist threats, and school violence/lockdowns, our kids are left holding fear that can’t always be soothed by “everything will be fine.”

Unfortunately violence isn’t just a headline; it’s a weight Black parents carry every day.

“I'm not worried about the world anymore. I've seen the world be my friend. I've seen the world turn on me…

It's my time to actually do it for myself.”

~Sha’Carri Richardson

Whew! Last bit, y’all! 😅😅

I stan the MCU (ALL OF IT!!), Studio Ghibli (HMC & SA 4L), 90s/00s Top40/R&B, Afrofuturism, African American history, horror (esp slashers and psychological), reading (esp new adult, historical fiction, and speculative), & writer of microfiction, flash fiction, and poetry!

Want to know more! 😁😁

I’m an eclectic hedge witch practicing divination with Hoodoo as my main focus.

I’m a fae mage with bartering skills, who uses daggers, ancestral magic, and has aura sensitivity.

I am Batman.

Still here?! 🤣☺️

I’m also liberal AF, pro-choice, pro-Black, anti-oppression, Free All Oppressed Peoples, pro-liberation, pro-children, anti-racist, decolonizing, a Obama & Kamala voter, anti-capitalism, and don’t debate on socials unless I absolutely want to!

Hey y’all!!

To all 4.3k of you, welcome to a page that’s run by a Black able-bodied facing cisgender heterosexual woman, prismatic AfroNerd, friendly neighborhood MCU mythologist, and your favorite Shame Proof Parenting CEO!

Nice to meet you!

First, let’s stop using 1619 as the beginning date of US slavery. That’s not even the beginning of English slavery in Virginia—when the 1619 muster (census) was taken in VA, Africans already were there.

Spaniards brought enslaved Africans to Florida in the early 1500s.

So that’s number 1.