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THREAD: I've been trying to process everything that's happened over the past week. I've bounced between anger, hurt, anxiety and numbness. I haven't had the words to express everything I'm feeling. So I turn to the work.
Because it's important to understand that the unrest we're seeing across this country was sparked by the killing of #GeorgeFloyd by police, but I don't think that's all it's about. Not really.
It's also about the life expectancy gap for Black Americans which is even more stark and scary during this pandemic. @DrDavidAAnsell's book The Death Gap explains how that gap intersects with structural racism. https://www.wbez.org/stories/why-the-haves-are-healthy-and-the-have-nots-suffer/e07d86df-e49e-4743-9b96-3a1ad8135d94
It's also about Black mothers being 3 to 4 times more likely to die in childbirth, regardless of education or economic status. https://www.wbez.org/stories/working-to-close-the-gap-on-life-expectancy-in-chicago/7279a86a-5a46-422a-b974-ac97f22f4a59
It's also about racist housing policies that limited wealth acquisition for Black Americans and segregated neighborhoods. Policies created by the federal government that still shape neighborhoods today. https://www.wbez.org/stories/the-color-of-law-explains-how-government-policies-led-to-segregation/05d316f8-c64a-4c3b-beb5-15b351481d9a
And yes, it's about police violence. https://www.wbez.org/shows/16-shots/55c63c72-d518-4ad9-b5dc-dd0d841d79a7
This is by no means a complete list of the issues that this nation needs to grapple with. Structural racism is insidious. Many of our white listeners message me with questions about what they can do. A good place to start? This book by @DrIbram. https://www.wbez.org/stories/historian-ibram-x-kendi-on-how-to-be-an-antiracist/0ebef3d5-ae78-4fc9-8aef-fb5ceccdb8ab
And this one by @Karnythia. https://www.wbez.org/stories/hood-feminism-is-a-scathing-rebuke-of-mainstream-solidarity/d387e414-ec25-4722-87e1-f74b14bd3555
One last thing. To protect my mental and emotional health I'm not going to engage in any whataboutism arguments. Period. Be well.
