During the pandemic, there continues to be a gap in access between “the Coast” and “the Glades”. When the began to offer COVID-19 testing at the Ballpark and Delray, it was almost 4-6 weeks later until testing was available in the Glades. Now with the vaccines, the same thing is happening again with Glades not being given “access” because we don’t have a Publix in our community.
HV Dyad 1: --
WANTED: New Thinking and Leaders Willing to Lead
The storming of the Capitol Building is a story of the deep inequities, of racism and white supremacy. For some, this is blatant and obvious. For others, there is no comprehension of these connections. Is it based on the eye of the beholder? A group of white professionals were talking about being done with perfunctory diversity trainings and workshops. They were saying we (the US) need something stronger. Not driven by HR departments or 2-hours mandated in a school district setting. The entire framing of our systems needs to change in order to make real progress. I agree. Until people are pushed out of their comfort zones personally and accept a degree of personal reflection on these matters, our work will be surface level and meaningful, community and societal level change, won’t be realized.
Inequity treating addictions
In trying to combat the opioid epidemic in 2017, I was confronted by a black friend who expressed his anger at the way the healthcare system, legal system, and local governments were now rallying to this cause, which he attributed to the impact on the white community. He was right. This was and is a glaring example of inequity. I considered all the partners involved in the effort to combat the epidemic, and I realized that almost none were black or Latino. Our previous attempts to combat substance use disorders and addictions had been largely punitive and enforced along racial lines. These biases and practices continue today in how we treat addiction and its community effects.
#715
I loved baseball as a kid and one of my earlier memories is of Hank Aaron hitting home run #715 and breaking Babe Ruth’s record. The way everyone in my immediate family huddled around the tv, it seemed like a really important moment, everyone waiting to see if this at bat would be the one. When he hit the ball out of the park, it was so exciting because he accomplished something everyone assumed was impossible. It felt like a really important moment. I found out from my dad that Hank got hate mail and death threats during his chase of the record. I remember thinking – what is wrong with people? Not only is that wrong, it’s so stupid. Who thinks like that? Within a few years I realized I had plenty of aunts, uncles, cousins who did. I still get Obama birther emails from an aunt.