Invulnerable Fragility

Today I want to highlight some disparities, horrific treatment, current statistics, and some current issues in the field of medicine regarding race.  Historically, Blacks were viewed very differently than other races.  To explain and maintain White Supremacy, Blacks were thought to have thicker skin, were less likely to feel pain or heat, had smaller skulls (meaning they were less intelligent), larger sex organs (explaining their perceived promiscuity), and had weak lungs and were susceptible or some diseases.  Medical experiments were done to slaves to "prove" these theories.  John Brown was burned to see how long he could withstand it.   According to Linda Villarosa ( contributor to the 1619 project )" These fallacies, presented as fact and legitimized in medical journals, bolstered society’s view that enslaved people were fit for little outside forced labor and provided support for racist ideology and discriminatory public policies."  These ideas were published

Although I should have done it on the 1st b/c that was their 61st anniversary, today I honor these 4 students from NC A&T (My husband's alma mater). They helped spark sit-ins to change the policy of segregation of public spaces. It quickly caught on and there were sit-ins across the country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjeVqNcN5yI

 Copied from my Facebook:  Today I starting watching "Loving" on Netflix which is about the court case that allowed for interracial marriage. As I have read about this case and this humble couple, I am grateful for their fight. They didn't even want to make a big fuss, they just wanted to be able to love each other and raise their family. Interracial marriage was made legal in 1967. However, some states were slow to adopt fully. "Despite the court’s decision, however, some states were slow to alter their laws. The last state to officially accept the ruling was Alabama, which only removed an anti-miscegenation statute from its state constitution in 2000." Nayte and I got married in 2006. Something I have learned is that these big events and court cases didn't happen a long time ago. Our PARENTS remember these times bc they were there watching it all unfold or were a part of it. Racism is far from over. The racist people fighting against the civil rights move

 Some of this is  a repeat from what I posted on FB about this topic but some of this content is new as well.   Today I watched "Hidden Figures" on Disney+. I remember the shock of not knowing about these women's important contributions to the US going to space. Even my husband, who attended an HBCU, hadn't heard of them. It was sad that stuff like this was hidden for so long. It wasn't until 2015 that their story was made known and they got credit for their work. My favorite part of the movie was when Kevin Costner's character started to SEE what these women really deal with and ripped off the colored only bathroom signs and the sign on the coffee pot. He had realized their worth and realized they were all heading toward the same goal and should have whatever they need to accomplish this mission. It was a huge step forward. Why is this my favorite part? Is it because Kevin Costner is the Great White Savior? NO- he is far from it. Is it because in this moment

Copied from my Facebook: Today I would like to honor the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black air core in the military. These have been one of Nayte's heroes for some time. We have a signed painting and two models of their aircraft, the P51 Mustang, as well as books and magazines about them. They were trailblazers and proved their worth time and time again that Blacks were as capable as Whites in flying successful missions. They were part of the reason Nayte wanted to fly in the Air Force. Here is the link to the wikipedia page about this man, Herbert Carter, whom Nayte had the honor of meeting in real life a couple of times. To learn more, here is an article from history.com that includes a video. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/tuskegee-airmen Also, there are two movies made about this squadron called the Tuskegee Airmen (on HBO) and Red Tails (on Disney+) to see it unfold. (Tuskegee Airmen is the better movie in our opinion)

Copied from my Facebook account:  February is the month that we can count on learning about and hearing about more Black stories than any other part of the year because our education curriculum has omitted it. This video does a great job explaining this. I am also of the opinion that we shouldn't have a Black History Month however, until we get a sufficient replacement, that's what we have. So throughout this month, I plan to post videos and articles to show more of Black history than Slavery and Martin Luther King and the usual people and events we hear about. Any time this effort has been given traction it gets slammed down. I hope moving forward in 2021 we can finally rewrite the history curriculum to include people of color to show their contributions and struggles because it makes up this messy yet beautiful tapestry of American History and deserves to be recognized. YOUTUBE.COM The True History Of Black History Month Below is a brief but very informative discussion o