Reparations are critical to the well-being of Black people.
Here’s what paying reparations as a wellness practice looks likeand doesn’t look like.
To be more specific, I wasnt property, but the notion of me was.
And the bodies that bore me were.
All were considered, just over 150 years ago, something, not someone.
Clearly this is a wellness issue, and yet its one that the wellness industry itself doesnt even support.
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Reparations are not a discount or an occasional Venmo transfer to alleviate white guilt.
They are a call for payment thats long overdue, with interest.
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Comparatively, we are not well.
Were over-indexing onchronic health conditions.
Our children dont have thesame opportunities to breathe.
On average, were losingmore of our future generationsthan the white communities tomaternal mortality.
The multi-generationalpattern of racial weatheringisevident in health data, but were alsoless likely to receive help.
We dont even get thesame opportunities to rest, despite bearing the burden of generational trauma in our bones.
And we are still paying.
With flesh and blood, bodies and breath.
Im uninterested in arguing the best way for reparations to be implemented.
Its principle, not policies that Im advocating for.
However, commendable acts of community organizing do set powerful precedents for broader reform.
To be clear, reparations are not a discount or an occasional Venmo transfer to alleviate white guilt.
They are a call for payment thats long overdue, with interest.
And they need to come with sweeping, unanimous acknowledgment and accountability.
They also cannot be reactionary transactions, but a responsive and consistent component of moving forward.
And thats because this debt is still accumulating.
Consider: How will payment for Tulsa protect Detroit?
How do payments to descendants of those enslaved compensate for those still detained by our criminal justice system?
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