March for voting rights.

Since the last election, states across the country have passed or attempted to pass harmful legislation limiting the people’s right to vote. In Texas, for example, Republicans aim to create stricter rules on mail ballots and prohibit 24-hour and drive-thru voting (AP News). In Georgia, absentee ballots have been significantly limited, mobile voting sites are essentially banned, and offering food or water to voters waiting in line now risks misdemeanor charges (N.Y. Times ). Consequently, civil rights activists have organized a mass mobilization in the spirit of the 1963 March on Washington, a historical event that transformed political engagement.

TAKE ACTION

Join an upcoming march near you using the map on the March On For Voting Rights website.
Urge your senators to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Donate one dollar a day to Give Us The Ballot (organizers of March On For Voting Rights) and fight voter suppression.
Follow us on Instagram to watch the march unfold in DC in real-time on Saturday.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her) and Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom officially began on August 28, 1963 (History). Over 200,000 demonstrators, predominantly Black Americans, descended on the nation’s capital to protest and pressure the Kennedy Administration into creating stronger civil rights protections and legacies during this era of legal segregation (Stanford). It’s important to stress the economic aspect of the demands of this march. Racial oppression and economic oppression have been symbiotic for decades, and many civil rights leaders have fought for equity for Black Americans on both fronts.

Dr. Martin Luther King ended this march with his world-famous “I Have a Dream” speech. However, many other notable civil rights activists also shared powerful words and visions with the crowd. These include Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, Whitney Young of the National Urban League, John Lewis of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and others (National Park Service). Despite the male dominance of the speakers, women such as Dorothy Height of the National Council of Negro Women played essential roles in the organization and execution of this momentous march (National Park Service).

This march did lead to some direct successes for the civil rights causes. President Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson met with civil rights leaders such as King shortly after the march (Stanford). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 reflect many of the demands discussed during the many speeches of the march.

However, this march did not end many of the afflictions affecting the ability of Black Americans to have equity in political or economic opportunities. Over 50 years later, many of the topics are echoed by 21st-century activists demanding freedom and economic justice for Black people today.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was reversed in the June 2013 ruling of Shelby County v. Holder. Since then, 24 states have implemented new restrictions on voting that make it especially difficult for marginalized communities to exercise their right to vote (Vox). Activists fought for HR 4, known as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, to be re-introduced in Congress as an antidote for these manipulative practices. The bill would require jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination in voting to get clearance from the Justice Department before changing voting rules (CBS News). The bill passed in the House on Tuesday this week – but will need full support of Democrats and 10 Republicans to pass in the Senate. As of now, no Republicans in the House support it.

But even if this law does pass, we need to do more work to ensure that all of us have the right to vote. This has never been a one-time fix but a consistent and persistent march for justice – literally and figuratively.

Key Takeaways

Saturday, August 28 marks the anniversary of the The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, when 200,000+ demonstrators descended on the nation’s capital to protest and pressure the Kennedy Administration into creating stronger civil rights protections and legacies during this era of legal segregation.
In its honor, activists have organized a series of marches to protest the slew of state legislation implemented since the last election to limit individual's right to vote.
Throughout time, legislation limiting access to voting has made it especially difficult for marginalized communities to cast a ballot.

11/25/2020 | Question your understanding of "authentic" food.

7/22/2020 | Don't Americanize other cultures.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Thank you for all your financial contributions! If you haven't already, consider making a monthly donation to this work. These funds will help me operationalize this work for greatest impact.

Subscribe on Patreon | Give one-time on PayPal | Venmo @nicoleacardoza

Nicole Cardoza 7/20/21 Nicole Cardoza 7/20/21

Support community-based research.

Research about issues hurting marginalized communities has skyrocketed. However, this has not decreased inequality. Extractive research studies marginalized communities without involving or helping them. It runs rampant in American research institutions.

Good morning and welcome back! As society reckons with racial inequities, resources are flowing to conduct research studies to implement new policies and practices. Sometimes, these practices can do more harm than good – exploiting marginalized communities and gatekeeping access to direct support. Tiffany shares more in today's newsletter.

Thank you for your support! This daily, free, independent newsletter is fully funded by contributions from our readers. Make a monthly or annual donation to join in, or give one-time on our website, PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza).

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Support community-based research projects such as the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project and organizations that use community-based research like the Coalition on Homelessness, Our Data Bodies, Causa Justa, and Dignity and Power Now.
Whether you’re a student, parent, employee, or neighbor, challenge academic institutions to employ community-based research.
When assessing academic “solutions” to problems in oppressed communities, consider: Were those being studied involved in research design, implementation, and analysis? Will they be empowered or further marginalized by the proposals? Were community members already articulating their problems, needs, and desires? Did problems stem from a lack of research or an imbalance of power and resources?

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

Researchers in the U.S. have long exploited marginalized communities. Colonial doctors experimented on enslaved Africans (JSTOR). Medical researchers used Puerto Rican women as guinea pigs for the first birth control trials, murdering some in the process (History). Some still deny racism by citing Daniel Moynihan, a sociologist, and Harvard professor, who believed the rise of single-mother households fundamentally caused Black poverty (The Atlantic).

Exploitative research extracts knowledge from oppressed communities without providing empowerment and resources. It views marginalized communities as objects to be studied and academics as the ones who establish the truth and decide the right solutions.

Many researchers do not come from or live in the communities they study. A 2011 NIH study revealed that of the principal investigators awarded R01 grant funding for research, 1.2% reported as Black, 3.4% reported as Latino, and less than 0.2% reported as Native (NIH). Only 11% of students from low-income families obtain a bachelor's degree, so very few researchers come from low-income communities (Ed Trust).

Health studies pinpointing health disparities without focus on solutions is a rising issue. “The inordinate focus on identifying rather than eliminating disparities in health sciences research comes from the top, from what research questions receive NIH [National Institutes of Health] funding and which researchers’ careers are supported,” Dr. Rhea Boyd M.D, a pediatrician and public health advocate, told Anti-Racism Daily.

Aminata Kouyate, a medical student at UCSF, stated, “My professor calls it the Health Disparities Industrial Complex. People are really out here making whole careers reporting on us dying but doing nothing to change that” (Twitter).

Community members are rarely involved in the design or execution of research projects. Many do not see study results because most academic research gets published in journals with subscriptions costing hundreds to thousands of dollars (Vox).

“When researchers do not share the findings with the community who provided the data or samples, they disable the community from making important interventions and from benefitting more generally from the evidence that results from their contributions,” Boyd explained.

Some research focuses on identifying issues that marginalized communities have discussed for years. When the biggest benefit to said communities would be sharing resources and skillsets to find and implement solutions.

In 2019, tech billionaire Marc Benioff donated $30 million to research houselessness (CNN). Houselessness isn’t exactly a new problem. Unhoused communities and advocates have expressed for years that escalating housing prices drive much of the crisis in the Bay Area (48 Hills, Teen Vogue). In 2019, SF had an estimated 8,035 unhoused people and 38,651 empty home units - when the median monthly income for a one-bedroom was $3,690.(CBS Bay Area, SF, SF). That multi-million dollar gift could have housed every SF unhoused person for one year. Engaging with community organizations would have likely shown that the best help would have been to provide a direct housing benefit to the folks sleeping on the streets and in their cars.

San Francisco’s Coalition on Homelessness produced a report called “Stop the Revolving Door” which offers recommendations on how to address houselnessness. This report was produced using a methodology called Community-Based Participatory Action Research, which means community members – in this case, unhoused people in San Francisco – were involved in every step of the process from designing the survey to working as researchers. They created the most comprehensive report on houselessness ever conducted in the city (Coalition on Homelessness). While working on community-based research, the Coalition organizes alongside unhoused people on community priorities like housing subsidies and limiting police power to actively help fight against houselessness (Coalition on Homelessness).

Why do so many respected institutions still do predatory research? It has rewards. Academics and students build resumes and advance careers. Universities get grants. Charitable foundations can celebrate their “impact.” Rich donors get recognized as generous philanthropists. Everyone wins - except the folks from disadvantaged communities that remain afflicted.

Research can only help uplift disempowered people if researchers include community members as active subjects and engage them from a place of genuine respect and concern. Community-based research has to become the standard.

“Rather than a one-way process where researchers take data and stories out of the community to serve their own career interests, researchers should partner with communities to ask and answer questions that are of interest and benefit to communities members - remembering to return with the findings so the community can also start to elaborate their own solutions or implement their own interventions, based on the findings,” Boyd added.

Researchers should aim to genuinely want to improve lives, not simply get publications. Academia must grow humility along with its body of work.

Key Takeaways

A lot of research on high-risk communities is extractive instead of actively helping or uplifting these communities.
Many members of disadvantaged communities are not included in the research design, do not have access to research publications, and often do not get benefits from their participation.
Most researchers do not come from or have strong ties to the marginalized communities they study.
Community-based research models engage community members the most and help to empower their communities instead.

2/28/2021 | Learn from public syllabi.

8/17/2020 | Fight for equity in remote learning.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/18/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/18/21

Unpack “Black-on-Black crime”.

Aristotle said, “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime” (Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality). But in the wake of violence in impoverished Black communities, we often only hear the same refrain: “Why is no one doing anything about this?” The idea that nobody in Black communities works to stop community violence is racist, classist, and false.

It's Friday! Welcome back, and thanks so much for being a part of our community. I really like the perspective that Tiffany offers in today's piece; not only is the notion of "Black-on-Black crime" weaponized to minimize racial violence, it often fails to recognize the incredible work of local community organizers. As you read, consider: what has shaped your notion of the topics listed below? What do you need to learn or unlearn in your own community?

Thank you for your support! This daily, free, independent newsletter is made possible by your support. If you can, consider making a donation to support our team. You can start a monthly subscription on Patreon or our website, or give one-time using our website, PayPal, or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza).

Have a great day!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Follow and support local organizations like Operation Save Our City and Mothers in Charge in Philly, GoodKids MadCity and Mothers Against Senseless Killings in Chicago, Take Back Our Streets in Oakland, and Stand Up To Violence in the Bronx.
Explore independent, Black-owned community newspapers to catch stories that mainstream media miss.
Read about the Black Clergy of Philadelphia’s plan to stop violence through economic investment and community support.

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

The idea that nobody in Black communities works to stop community violence is racist, classist, and false.

In 1979, Ebony magazine made the first reference to “Black-on-Black crime,” saying, “Although the black community is not responsible for the external conditions that systematically create breeding grounds for crime, the community has the responsibility of doing what it can to attack the problem from within” (ABC News). These conditions were created by American white supremacy, as the government’s own 1968 Kerner Commission acknowledged when it wrote, “White society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it” (Smithsonian).

Commentators don’t bring up Black intra-community violence to change these conditions created by American racial capitalism (Truthout). And we never hear about white-on-white violence. The specter of “Black-on-Black crime” is not a sincere reckoning with the causes and effects of poverty and interpersonal violence in Black communities. It’s a racist dog whistle. More often than not, “Black-on-Black crime” is weaponized to deflect attention from anti-Black police violence.

After a tragic weekend with over 100 shootings in Chicago (Block Club Chicago), Fox News host Geraldo Rivera tweeted, “It was most violent single day in 6 decades, per Chicago Sun Times. Will #BlackLivesMatters speak out? Will anyone kneel for them?” (Twitter). The killings are mentioned not to mourn the dead, but only to attack Black Lives Matter. If Rivera cared about those killed, he wouldn’t discuss them only to oppose a movement for racial justice.

Historically, Black folks have been deemed lazy, unresourceful, and submissive (Smithsonian). To ask “why is nobody doing anything about this?” presumes that Black folks condone violence against their families, friends, and neighbors.

When individuals and the media perpetuate the notion that Black people in low-income neighborhoods are indifferent to interpersonal violence, they also erase the work of community organizers across the country. If Rivera cared about Black intra-community violence, he would have taken a few minutes to research how Chicago activists banded together to address community violence (Block Club Chicago). He would have cited Black women-led groups like Chicago’s Mothers Against Senseless Killings (MASK) and Philadelphia’s Mothers in Charge (MIC). He would have talked about campaigns like Baltimore’s Safe Streets, where community members de-escalate violent events and prevent violence at the source (Safe Streets).

Every day, people in inner cities work to eradicate violence in their communities. Groups like Operation Save Our City in Philly (Facebook), GoodKids MadCity in Chicago (GKMC), Take Back Our Streets in Oakland (Facebook), and Stand Up To Violence in the Bronx (Facebook) are all grassroots initiatives made up of people working to fight violence in their own communities. They receive minimal recognition and little acclaim. The majority of Americans simply don’t know they exist.

These grassroots anti-violence organizations are led by members of low-income communities themselves. One reason they receive little attention is classism. To a middle-class audience, their campaigns may seem less “professional” or “respectable” than those run by nonprofits or college groups. Even in the realm of racial justice, Black organizations that have representation from middle- or upper-class backgrounds often garner more attention. But those most directly affected by social problems often have the best knowledge about how to set them right, even if they have access to minimal resources and power.

The loss of independent news outlets is another barrier to learning about these community efforts. Independent outlets such as Block Club Chicago report on local organizing much more than national, mainstream publications. Supporting local, independent news led by writers of color can give exposure to the wonderful community organizations trying to help their neighborhoods thrive.

After highly-publicized Black intra-community violence, “Why is nobody doing anything about this?” is the wrong question.

We might consider some others:

“How can we support community organizations working on community violence?”

“How do we support activists beyond those we see on CNN or social media?”

“Why do organizations doing the most work on the ground get the least donations?”

“How can I help make sure all of the communities around me have the resources and safety their members need to thrive?”

We can’t do that until we unpack the idea of “Black-on-Black violence.”

Key Takeaways

In every city across America, Black people (often without needed resources) find ways to combat community violence in different ways.
Classism and elitism still occur in activist spaces. Community-based organizations and activists without degrees or professional connections can be at risk of getting overlooked.
It’s important to read local and independent news and media to learn about community-based efforts that mainstream media misses.

RELATED ISSUES

11/15/2020 | Learn the key terminology.

11/9/2020 | Seek solidarity, not charity.

9/3/2020 | Support mental health response services.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/16/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/16/21

Ensure access to PrEP.

The first HIV/AIDS case was officially reported by the CDC a little more than forty years ago (NBC News). Since then, there have been incredible advancements in HIV treatment options. Today, antiretroviral therapies can suppress the HIV virus enough to help HIV-positive people live with undetectable amounts of the virus.

Good morning and happy Wednesday! Preventative treatments for HIV can save countless lives, but disparities exist for who can easily gain access to these medications. Today, Tiffany explains the historical discrimination in HIV/AIDS treatment and how we can advocate for equitable access to PrEP.

Have a great day!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Support the Transinclusive Group (Instagram), a Black trans-led group offering HIV services in South Florida.
Educate yourself about AIDS history and Black efforts to address historical inequities. AIDS 1969: HIV, History, and Race.
Spread the word about resources such as Ready, Set, PrEP which help individuals interested in PrEP access to the medication at a low or no cost.

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

HIV prevention options have greatly expanded as well. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) medication can reduce a person’s risk of contracting HIV through sex by 99% and their risk of contracting it through intravenous drug use by 74% (CDC).

But communities with the highest rates of HIV actually use PrEP the least. Men who have sex with men (MSM) – including gay and bisexual men as well as those who don’t identify as either – are at higher risk of contracting HIV. Though Black and Latinx MSM are five to ten times more likely to contract HIV than white MSM, white MSM both know about and use PrEP at higher rates than men of color (CDC). One reason for this discrepancy is the barriers people of color face in accessing care.

PrEP medication access is hardest for patients to access in the South, where 56% of Black Americans live (Pew Research). 38% of Affordable Care Act Marketplace health plans in southern states require prior authorization before individuals receive PrEP, a rate significantly higher than anywhere else in the country (JAMA). Requiring prior authorization means treatment will only be covered by the insurance company if the company approves it before the treatment is prescribed (TikTok). This increases the burden on doctor’s offices and causes delays in treatment. “Prior authorizations have been cited by clinicians as being one of the biggest barriers for PrEP uptake,” according to Dr. Kathleen McManus, who researched the subject (UVA). 90% of physicians stated prior authorizations delayed patient’s access to care and 75% stated they can lead patients to abandon treatments. (AMA).

Each year, 50% of new HIV cases occur in the South (CDC). Out of those new HIV cases in Southern states, Black women comprise 67% of cases in women, Black men are 70% of cases in men, and out of men who have sex with men, 50% of new cases are Black men (CDC). Insurance company policies create unnecessary hurdles for accessing crucial HIV prevention measures in a high-risk region where Black people are at disproportionate risk. This constitutes a deadly form of structural racism.

The government and medical establishment’s approach to HIV/AIDS has always been rooted in discrimination. Ronald Reagan’s administration refused to prioritize AIDS research and treatment in the 1980s since it was viewed as a “gay plague” (NBC News). It took years of activism and pressure from groups like ACT UP for the passage of the Ryan White Cares Act in 1990 to mandate serious federal funding and attention to HIV care and treatment (Hornet, History). Despite the historical framing of HIV as a virus that primarily affected gay white men, Black and Brown people have always been overrepresented in the HIV-positive population. They also long been central to AIDS activism and resistance (Drain).

In the words of Raniyah Copeland of the Black AIDS Institute, “HIV is a disease that affects the most marginalized: Black and brown people, LGBTQ people, people living in poverty, people who don’t have housing, people experiencing substance addiction, and so many others who aren’t able to thrive simply because of who they are, who they love, or where they live” (Black Aids Institute) The prior authorizations that delay access to HIV prevention medication are the product of a healthcare corporations and government policies that place little emphasis on HIV and other health conditions that disproportionately affect Black and Brown people and members of other oppressed and marginalized communities.

Southern state governments have the power to create laws that require their state healthcare plans on the exchange to include coverage of PrEP medications without requiring prior authorization. They must act. In the meantime, organizations like South Florida’s Transinclusive Group are acting to ensure HIV prevention isn’t pushed to the side for Black and Brown folks (Instagram). We must fix a system where discriminatory barriers block entire communities from life-changing treatments.

Key Takeaways

PrEP dramatically reduces the risk of HIV-negative people contracting HIV.
Black people in the South are at high risk of contracting HIV, but many ACA insurance plans in southern states require an additional step, prior authorization, before getting PrEP.
The government has long neglected HIV research and HIV-positive people because of systemic discrimination against queer people, people of color, poor people, and drug users.

1/19/2021 | Advocate for universal healthcare.

8/14/2020 | Support Black mental health.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 5/26/21 Nicole Cardoza 5/26/21

Promote agricultural education.

Agriculture is in full focus this year with people gaining awareness about how their foods are cultivated. As people across the country found themselves spending more time at home, home and community-based gardening started to rise (MLive). This trend is not limited to adults. It also includes the education provided for students. Agricultural education is a powerful component of racial equity that should be promoted for students across the country.

Happy Wednesday and welcome back. After months spent at home, many people discovered their green thumb, buying plants and starting gardens to bring the outside in. Today, Tiffany shares more about the importance of agricultural education to deepen our collective connection to the food systems and the earth.

Thank you to everyone that makes this work possible. If you want to support, give $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community.

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Donate $10 to Great Kids Farm, which supports agricultural programming for Baltimore City Public School Students.
Look at the Federation of Southern Cooperative’s work for Black farmers, landowners, and cooperatives doing agricultural education.
Watch Stephen Ritz’s TedxTalk about urban school farming, A Teacher Growing Green in South Bronx.
Support Urban Creators (Instagram), the group that runs Life Do Grow Farm in Philadelphia.

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

This trend is not limited to adults. It also includes the education provided for students. Agricultural education is a powerful component of racial equity that should be promoted for students across the country.

The Federation of Southern Cooperatives’ Darnella Winston told Anti-Racism Daily that “[many people] don't see the other side [of farming], or the beauty of being able to grow what it is that you want to eat, to be able to sell it at a price that you want, to be able to sell it regardless of market expectations.”

The Baltimore City School System operates Great Kids Farms as part of their school curriculum (Great Kids Farm). Miami-Dade County has a Food Forests for Schools program that helps students plant and maintain edible gardens on school grounds (Education Fund). The Green Bronx Machine is a school-based curriculum to teach students how to grow vegetables in their schools and communities (Green Bronx Machine).

Agriculture education is undertaken outside schools by groups like Urban Creators, a North Philadelphia organization started by youth organizers that operates the Life Do Grow Farm (Urban Creators).

At a basic level, agricultural education involves teaching students the science of growing and cultivating foods. Connecting students of color with this knowledge supports healthy communities today and begins to right historical wrongs.

There were 1 million Black American farmers in 1920 but only 45,000 in 2019 (The Guardian). In 2012, less than 60,000 Indigenous Americans worked as farmers (Census of Agriculture), a steep decrease for communities in part historically focused on sustainable agriculture.

Some of this decline can be attributed to negative modern ideas about agriculture, particularly in communities of color with histories of forced farming. Teaching young children of color farming helps them to connect with history that has been systematically stripped away over many years. Many food trends of today emerged only 50 years ago. It’s important for children to learn that while you can get an apple from a supermarket, you can also grow one like many of their ancestors did.

Agricultural education also helps low-income communities of color access healthy food. In the mid-twentieth century, supermarkets became the predominant way for Americans to buy food (Washington Post). Their rise largely bypassed low-income communities and communities of color (CNN). Even in neighborhoods with similar levels of poverty, communities with more Black and Latinx people have fewer supermarkets and less healthy food offerings (Johns Hopkins). When grocery stores do come to low-income Black and Latinx neighborhoods, the relatively high cost of healthy produce still keeps families buying lower quality options (The Counter).

“It's not so much that we want to [just] teach about agriculture, but we want everybody to see and understand and feel the ways that food and agriculture and land are tied into every part of who we are and what we do and how we learn,” Laura Menyuk, Farm to School education specialist at Baltimore City Public Schools, told Anti-Racism Daily.

“And no matter their culture and heritage and family background, if [kids] live in the United States, they are part of a society that has forced a disconnection with land and food in large part upon us by how our food system operates.”

Less healthy food translates to worse health. Black, Indigenous, and Latinx youth have a significantly higher prevalence of chronic conditions due in part to food inequality (NIH). Food injustice denies children of color the right to develop physically and mentally in the healthiest way they can. It’s a particularly insidious form of systemic oppression.

This is why teaching students about agriculture and how to grow healthy foods such an important aspect of undoing deep-seated racial discrimination. Teaching children of color about growing foods teaches children that they can be part of solutions to food injustice.

Key Takeaways

Unequal access to healthy foods impedes the health of children of color.
Agricultural education teaches children how to grow healthy foods that many cannot afford to access in supermarkets.
Schools and community organizations are creating programs to help students reconnect with farming and food production.

RELATED ISSUES

12/23/2020 | Combat food deserts.

11/23/2020 | Fight food insecurity.

3/2/2021 | Advocate for clean water.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 5/18/21 Nicole Cardoza 5/18/21

End “race norming” in healthcare.

Over the past year, the global pandemic has highlighted the vast racial disparities in medical treatment in the U.S. Many of its elements are more subtle; difficult to see if you don’t experience it first-hand. But some are more blatant – like racial correction factors. In medicine, equations and algorithms can often be used to diagnose or screen patients. Racial correction factors are when physicians adjust the measurements or risk calculations for patients based on their race. Despite the fact that race is a social construct, many medical providers hold on to the idea of race as a biological variable. This has a severe, sometimes fatal impact on people of color.

Happy Tuesday, and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily!

Right now, thousands of retired Black professional football players and their families are fighting to end the racial bias that determines which players are eligible for payouts for brain injury claims. The bias embedded in testing process makes it more difficult for Black players to demonstrate signs of dementia than white players, making them less likely to receive the $1B in settlements from the NFL (ESPN). Today, Tiffany shares other ways that racial bias influences the health and wellbeing of Black and Asian people.

Thank you to everyone that gives a little when they can to keep this newsletter going! If you can, consider giving $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. This newsletter will continue to be a free resource because of this collective support.

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Read Towards the Abolition of Biological Race in Medicine and Public Health which details the history of medical racism, particularly for hypertension.
Watch Dr. Vanessa Grubb’s video segment on Racism and Race: The Use of Race in Medicine and Implications for Health Equity
Empower and educate people around you about racial correction factors so they can advocate for themselves in medical situations where doctors choose to delay treatment.
Consider: How does your racial identity influence your experience at the doctor’s office? What do or don’t you have to consider? How may this change based on your gender identity, or other factors of your identity?

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

Over the past year, the global pandemic has highlighted the vast racial disparities in medical treatment in the U.S. Many of its elements are more subtle; difficult to see if you don’t experience it first-hand. But some are more blatant – like racial correction factors. In medicine, equations and algorithms can often be used to diagnose or screen patients. Racial correction factors are when physicians adjust the measurements or risk calculations for patients based on their race. Despite the fact that race is a social construct, many medical providers hold on to the idea of race as a biological variable. This has a severe, sometimes fatal impact on people of color.

One of the most commonly used and widely discussed racial correction factors exists with estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFR) in the kidneys, which assesses the level of kidney functioning. Medical providers measure eGFR by using a mathematical calculation that compares the creatinine measured in a person’s blood, with their size, age, sex, and race (Kaiser Permanente). Many medical institutions utilize a racial correction factor of approximately 1.2 for Black people (Nature).

“With the correction, Black patients' estimated kidney function is about 16-21% higher (depending upon the equation used) than all other races in this country”, according to Dr. Vanessa Grubbs, nephrologist and author of Hundreds of Interlaced Fingers: A Kidney Doctor's Search for the Perfect Match.

Medical providers use eGFR values to deduce what stage of chronic kidney disease a patient is at (National Kidney Foundation). The lower the eGFR value, the lower the kidney functioning, and the higher stage of kidney disease a patient is diagnosed with (Kidney). The correction factors that inflate Black patient’s eGFR measurements, could potentially have them diagnosed with an incorrect stage of kidney disease and delay needed treatment.

“This means that Black patients—even though they reach end-stage kidney disease nearly 4x faster than White patients—are referred later to nephrology specialty care and transplant evaluation”, recounts Grubbs. “I would not have referred one of my patients to kidney transplant at least a year later had I believed the race correction was indeed correct. And he lost kidney function faster than expected,” she adds. Grubbs recommends that patient’s request cyastain C blood tests to estimate their kidney functioning without the inclusion of race.

Another commonly used correction factors exists in in the use of spirometers in pulmonology. Spirometers directly measure the amount of air you can inhale and exhale, and the rate at which you exhale (Mayo Clinic). Medical providers use this tool to assess the strength of lungs and to diagnose for respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (Mayo Clinic). Spirometers measure two main values: FEV1 (how much air you can force out of your lungs in 1 second) and FVC (greatest amount of air you can breath out after brething in very deeply) (Healthline). Provider diagnose certain respiratory conditions such as by comparing patient’s FEV1, FCV and FEV1/FCV ratio to predicted normal values.

“So every age group has a different measurement of what normal means. At the same time, differences in gender, and race, at this moment is still added as part of the metrics,” explains Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, MD, MHS pulmonologist and Assistant Professor, Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Many spirometers have a built-in racial correction factor that automatically assumes a 10-15% smaller lung capacity for Black patients and a 4-6% smaller lung capacity for Asian patients when computing measurements (NIH). Medical providers typically diagnose COPD when a patient’s FEV1/FVC ratio is less than 70% of an estimated normal value (NIH). The lower adjusted values for Black and Asian patients could potentially lead to these patients not being diagnosed as having COPD when measured as having similar spirometry values or physical symptoms as white patients who are diagnosed with COPD.

“There’s a great number of studies that show fewer diagnoses of COPD in Black/African-America patients, even though they have much more symptoms,” explains Galiatsatos. “Spirometry is used for diagnostic purposes. So if you can’t diagnose [COPD], because you have this racial bias, then you’re going to delay these patients from getting the interventions that they need” he adds. He recommends patients ask medical providers to look at their flow volume curve results, which is not influenced by race when looking for an assessment or diagnosis.

The idea that Black people have different medical needs stems back from the times of slavery and was built from racist scientific ideas.

During slavery, people believed that Black folks had inferior lung capacities to white people. In 1832, Thomas Jefferson referenced differences in lung function between slaves and colonizers (Google Books). In the 1800s, physician (and slave owner) Samuel Cartwright used the spirometer to compare the lung capacities of enslaved Africans to the slaveholding white masters (NIH). He concluded that enslaved Africans had inferior lungs.

The racial correction factor for eGFR, however, was introduced later in the 1990s because Black people were observed to have higher creatinine levels in their blood (Nature). Researchers concluded that Black people’s higher creatinine levels were due to Black people having higher muscle mass than white people (Scientific American). This study failed to truly consider other explanations for why the Black patients had higher creatinine levels. This idea of all Black people being stronger than other people is reminiscent of stereotypes used to justify the animalization and enslaving of Black people for profit (NIH)

“There is no real science behind it,” believes Grubbs. “Most doctors still do it because they don't know why race was included in the first place and are just following along blindly. Others still do it because they are upholding White supremacy ideology that Black people are inherently different than all other humans.”.

Racial correction factors for eGFR are especially harmful because Black people are 3-4 times as likely to develop kidney failure compared to white people (NIH). 32% of kidney failures occur in Black people, despite only making up 13% of the population (NIH). In addition, Black people are three times as likely to die from asthma and Black men are 50% more likely to get lung cancer than white men (Lavaca Medical Center). Black and Asian people are both at a higher risk for being hospitalized for asthma compared to white people (NIH). It’s devastating to imagine how many people of color were delayed or denied life-saving treatment because of an outdated correction factor.

The movement to end the use of racial correction factors is picking up across medical institutions across the country (STAT News). Vanderbilt, University of Washington, and the University of California, San Francisco have moved to end the use of race-based correction factors in their medical institutions (Vanderbilt, UW, UCSF). Students like Noor Chadha at the joint UCSF Medicine and UC Berkeley program created a report titled Towards the Abolition of Biological Race in Medicine which examines the many explicit racist issues, including racial correction factors, in modern medicine.

We need to abolish racial correction factors to ensure that all people can equally get a chance to get life-saving medical treatments.

Key Takeaways

Many healthcare providers still utilize racial correction factors that require Black and Asian people to have lower kidney function and lower lung capacity to get diagnosed and get needed treatment.
Many racial correction factors are rooted in racist scientific ideas.
Many institutions are now making a push to remove racial correction factors.

8/14/2020 | Support Black mental health.

8/18/2020 | Support athletes in taking action.

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Nicole Cardoza 4/27/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/27/21

Learn how film and television portray policing.

Law and Order. CSI. Hawaii-Five-Oh. American Sniper. TV shows and movies about law enforcement and the police permeate the screens of Americans across the country. Media portrayals about police officers, detectives, judges, crime fighters, and more firmly implemented into the cultural lexicon. Just because they are on TV does not mean that these shows exclusively exist for entertainment. Many shows actively depict criminal justice without showcasing the many ways it harms the lives of communities of color. These shows often work to bolster law enforcement in the eyes of white supremacy while simultaneously reducing compassion for the disproportionately Black victims of its system.

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! Throughout the past few months, we've analyzed how TV and media influence our perception of current events. Today, Tiffany explores how stories of policing and criminal justice shape our thoughts on safety and crime.

Our Earth Week series, "This is our home," is almost over. Subscribe to learn from youth environmental justice leaders addressing the biggest climate threats of our time. thisisourho.me.

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Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Join or donate to Color of Change, a racial justice organization that piloted the landmark research study, Normalizing Injustice, which shows how crime TV shows distort the reality of police systems and race and police brutality.
Watch films such as Fruitvale Station (2013) that portray the realities of police brutality.
The next time you’re watching a show that involves law enforcement, consider: how does the narrative unfolding support or detract from abolition work? What is being reinforced through this narrative? What is being dismantled?

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By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

Hollywood often creates law enforcement and military programming with the direct help of these industries. During the beginning of modern cinema in the 1900s, movies often depicted cops as incompetent fools (Vox). This mirrored general American dissatisfaction with police officers in the early 20th century. Decades of police reform followed earlier policing scandals, and in their wake emerged shows such as 1951’s Dragnet that started the hero cop narrative in pop culture (Vox). A close relationship between the police industry, military industry, and Hollywood has survived long term. The United States Department of Defense has collaborated on Hollywood Military movies for over 100 years (US Dept. of Defense). Shows such as CBS’ Blue Bloods and Netflix’s Mindhunter hire police officers to consult the scripts for their shows (The Hollywood Reporter). These institutions play a direct role in crafting the image of these industrial complexes. This leaves little room for objective depictions of the reality of policing or the military, misrepresenting how police officers mistreat Black people or how the military affects people from the Middle East.

Law enforcement TV shows tend to dramatize the nature of crimes discussed on the shows, often centering on gruesome rape and murder crimes. This does not reflect the reality of crimes in the U.S. The majority of arrests in the U.S. occur for non-violent crimes. Violent crimes have rapidly decreased over the years. According to FBI-reported crime data, the violent crime rate dropped by 40% between 1993 and 2019 (Pew Research). Conversely, since 1993, the rate of American perceiving crime to increase has increased to 78% in 2019 (Pew Research). This perception helps drive Americans to ask for harsher and more stringent policing, even though crime has been steadily decreasing over the past few decades.

Criminal justice programming also depicts most criminals as violent criminals. This distorts the reality that many people are in prison for non-violent and petty crimes. In 2020, 1 in 5 individuals were incarcerated for a drug-related offense. That amounts to about 450,000 people in jail for non-violent drug offenses (Prison Policy Initiative). This could potentially lead to less support for dismantling policing policies and incarceration facilities. Suppose a person thinks every person is in jail because of a violent offense instead of incarcerated for things like smoking marijuana. In that case, they may have less sympathy for human rights violations. This helps obscure the reality that many people get treated brutally by police for minor consequences.

Another insidious aspect of policing shows involves the high representation of Black and Brown actors and actresses as criminals and law enforcement. Representation matters. People of color often tune into shows of people who look like us. Many Black characters on television are depicted as violent criminals. Shows like Orange is The New Black has astonishing diversity but are set in the confines of a jail setting.

When people watch negative portrayals of Black and Brown people in the context of police and military television, they could potentially internalize the racist messaging. A public health study by Rutgers School of Public Health found that negative media portrayals about the criminality of Black men are correlated with higher rates of policing and police brutality (The Philadelphia Tribune). The negative image of Black and Brown folks across TV screens in America can also affect the way Black and Brown viewers, particularly children, view themselves. Despite the diversity of criminals selected, the showrunners are not. Across crime series, 81% of showrunners are white men, 81% of writers are white, and 9% are Black (Color of Change).

We need to have honest conversations about how mainstream media acts as propaganda for policing and military institutions. We also need to promote media that show realistic and nuances presentations of police officers in the States. Cop shows such as Chicago P.D. recently aired episodes dealing with cops dealing with police reform efforts (The Wrap). Denzel Washington recently starred in The Little Things (2021), which offered a look at how police officers and detectives can make serious, sometimes life-threatening errors in the name of solving crime.

For abolition to occur, Americans need to have an honest, objective, and critical view of the state of American policing. If millions of Americans continuously tune into television shows that position cops as heroes who can do no wrong, then this can not happen. Fighting for a fairer justice system will require us to have a serious conversation about the messages from our favorite law enforcement shows.

Key Takeaways

Police institutions and military industries directly work with Hollywood to create TV and movies.
These shows create untrue narratives about the heroics and infallibility of police, which can, in turn, drive police brutality.
Looking critically at media depictions of the police and the media is critical to reform the police and military-industrial complex.

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Nicole Cardoza 3/31/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/31/21

Protect Indigenous water rights.

March 22 commemorated World Water Day, and each year people use this day to reflect on and celebrate water, the world’s most vital natural resources. People also aim to use this time to raise awareness that 2.2 billion people across the globe lack access to clean water. For certain Americans, this day can conjure up images of people in low-and middle-income countries. However, more than two million Americans live without running water (US Water Alliance). One of the biggest culprits behind the water crisis stems from vulnerable communities’ unprotected water rights.

Happy Wednesday! Earlier this month, dozens of countries worldwide signed the 30x30, a pledge to protect at least 30 percent of the Earth’s land and water (NYTimes). Indigenous communities already protect these resources and have so for generations. It's critical they have a seat at the table as these conversations unfold, especially because of a legacy of displacement and disenfranchisement. Today, Tiffany offers more context.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our supporters. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Donate to or volunteer with the Navajo Water Project, an Indigenous-led community organization dedicated to increasing water access for residents of the Navajo Nation.
Donate to the Native American Rights Fund, which has dedicated actions to improve water rights for Indigenous tribes across America.
Look at the Navajo Safe Water Maps, to find what areas in Navajo Nation provide safe water use for individuals without water during Covid-19.

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

Water rights refer to legislation that gives an individual or an entity the right to use water from a specific source of water (US Legal); it does not exist in an infinite capacity. Individuals, communities, developments, and corporations in society all have to use a finite water supply to power their lives or processes. Water rights help to delineate who can and cannot use specific bodies of water. Sadly, water rights for communities of color get ignored and disregarded by the U.S. government and big corporations.

Historically, the United States government has stripped, ignored, infringed on the water rights of Indigenous Reservations to the water supplies that help their people believe. Informally, the government has granted corporations permission to abuse and pollute the water supply in Black and Latino neighborhoods. The lack of protecting the water rights of vulnerable communities of color directly impacts these communities’ ability to have access to clean water.

Legislation regarding water rights has existed since the emergence of European settlers in America. Starting in the 1800s, the federal government began confining Indigenous Americans to a fraction of their native lands in reservations (Congressional Research Services). The US government often carved out the driest lands for Indigenous people to live on (GAR). Despite the legal dedication of land to Indigenous tribes, the water was not limited to their use. European settlers would use water around the reservation, and they created an infrastructure that would block or minimize how much water reached the tribe. In 1908, the Winters v. The United States case gave Indigenous communities the first law that stated they had essentially had first rights to the water surrounding their reservation lands (Water Keeper). This was not properly followed. Through the 1940s, the United States government's infrastructure projects continued to decimate the water supply near reservation lands (High Country News). In the 1960s, the expansion of cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Tucson used generator technologies that diverted water away from Indigenous communities towards these booming new cities (High Country News).

Not many gains in the realm of water rights have occurred for disadvantaged communities in the twenty-first century. Many tribal communities still have legal fights with the United States government over water rights for their lands.

In High Country News, author Andrew Curley wrote, “water settlements between tribes and states are a source of much of this continued underdevelopment. For Indigenous people, these settlements also represent colonial dispossession because they often suspend allocation of water rights and funding for water infrastructure until tribal leaders give in to the state’s demands” (High Country News).

Some states have had more positive water rights interactions. In 2020, the Senate passed the Utah Navajo Water Rights Settlement Act (Salt Lake Tribune). This recognized and legitimized the Navajo Nation’s rights to 81,500 acres of water in the Colorado River Basin. It’s not only Indigenous communities in America suffering from water rights violations. The construction of dams by the Chinese government in the Upper Mekong River Basin has negatively impacted Indigenous Cambodian communities’ wellbeing that live downstream of the River Basin (International Rivers).

Water equals life and vitality. World Water Day means so much because it helps us to reflect and re-center how much water affects our ability to survive and thrive. Take the Navajo Nation, for example. The Navajo Nation had the highest-per-capita coronavirus infection rate across the United States (CNN). This disproportionately high coronavirus rate was likely impacted by low access to clean water in these communities. In the Navajo Nation, a third of all citizens lack access to regular running water or indoor plumbing (Urban Institute) while the average American uses almost nine gallons of water daily. The average Navajo Nation resident uses less than ten percent (Urban Institute).

Without clean water, communities suffer. The lack of water rights exuberates many other conditions that negatively hurt communities of color. Protecting water rights helps protect Indigenous communities from harmful disparities that deny them the right to a full life.

Anyone can find a way to help communities protect their water rights and increase access to clean water. If you live in a place with lots of access to water, begin to converse water. Turn off your sink while brushing your teeth. Opt for some baths instead of showers every day. Conserving water can help decrease the diversion of water from disadvantaged communities. People can opt to look into legislation involving water rights for vulnerable communities. We all need water to live, and negative ramifications in one society will eventually catch up to others. Helping Indigenous communities protect their water rights can lead to positive changes that ensure the security and safety of clean water for us all.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

More than two million Americans live without running water.
One of the biggest culprits behind the water crisis stems from vulnerable communities’ unprotected water rights.
Historically, the United States government has stripped, ignored, infringed on the water rights of Indigenous Reservations to the water supplies that help their people believe.
The lack of protecting the water rights of vulnerable communities of color directly impacts these communities’ ability to have access to clean water.

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