If you can navigate the river…
Very few people can swim across the Mississippi River. The currents are so rough that you have to be an extraordinary swimmer to swim. That’s how stigma works – added layers of problems.
Stigma is like trying to cross the Mississippi – it makes my life more difficult than it has to be.
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound and unsaved the wretch like me,”
That’s the stigma part. How has stigma unsaved me? How am I worse off because you can’t embrace me because of my HIV?
There’s a stigma about being on 13th floor. Friday the 13th, as they say, and the question is why? What does it mean? It’s bad luck, but you don’t even know why.
There’s a big stigma of just saying, “I’m from Memphis.” It’s crazy. Why is this? It’s just a place. That’s the first thing that you are remembered by.
They ask “Did you live in Memphis?” “Yeah, I do live in Memphis.” If that ain’t a stigma right there.
What’s wrong with Memphis? [I ask]
Snap Out Stigma 