Strange Fruit: From Poplar Trees to Racial Stress – Black Bodies Continue to Pay the Toll
To be Black and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage. Rage! Rage against what or who–one might ask? The more pressing question, however, is what impact does this perpetual state of rage have on our mental, emotional and physical well-being? The answer is death. According to a study published in JAMA in 2023, Black Americans experienced 1.63 million excess deaths relative to white Americans over more than two decades. Black lives are cut short due to the everyday stress of an unjust system that has yet to recognize our humanity.
Some daunting facts about Black life in America
- One out of every five Black households is situated in a food desert.
- In a survey conducted by McKinsey Black people were 50 percent more likely than White respondents to say they had student or medical debt.
- Forty-one percent of Black Americans report being stopped or detained by law enforcement due to their race.
- Twenty-one percent of Blacks report being victims of police brutality.
- Black professionals acknowledge disproportionately experiencing microaggressions as well as racial biases in the workforce, more so than any other ethnic group.
- Black wealth is projected to hit rock bottom by 2053.
If things are bad now, imagine what a Black America with zero wealth would look like. Unfortunately, it is not a reality we have not experienced before. It seems whenever we make any gains, when we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, even without any boots, the system always finds a way to undermine our progress. We take five steps forward only to be hurled ten steps backward. Undergirding this quandary is the overwhelming sentiment that whenever Black people make progress or appear to be doing better than the worst off Whites, it has not been earned. But the more prevailing belief is that it came at the expense of a better qualified White person.
White America genuinely believes it has paid for its original sin and the playing field has been leveled. On the question of whether Black Americans were due reparations Republican Senator Mitch McConnell stated that “we have elected an African-American president”. He spoke for the White masses. Although the data shows that African-Americans have never been the greatest beneficiaries of Affirmative Action or Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, there was always the presumption that our presence in high places was a result of such “set aside” programs.
The Data
- White women hold nearly 19% of all C-suite positions, while women of color hold just 4%.
- 1% of chief diversity officers are white, while Blacks represent just 3.8%.
- White women hold 32% of all management positions in the U.S., compared to just 4% for Black women and 6% for Latina women.
- According to a 1995 report by the Department of Labor, since the 1960s White women have filled 6 million of the 7 million jobs created by Affirmative Action policies.
- Over the past decade upwards of 80% of DEI executive roles went to white women.
While “we” appreciate the data, it was not necessary to tell us what we already knew. From our own lived experiences, stories from our mothers, aunts, friends, community – we were keenly aware that Blacks were the last hired and the first fired. We were aware that we had to work twice as hard to get half as far. We knew that in order to hold any position of notoriety, good, not even great was sufficient. We had to be pristine.
As we witness the erasure of DEI and other equity-based initiatives, watching the veil of America be removed, revealing its true face, now is not the time to panic nor fret. We are not new to this. In the words of Ajamu Baraka, since when have we ever been afraid of any White man? The goal of White terror has always been to destroy the Black mind – Black Skin White Masks, The Miseducation of the Negro. There is no greater moment than now to protect our mental health. Turn to Community. Create healthy Black spaces. Engage Black mental health experts. Love one another. Build with one another. Create our own. In this, we will find the liberty that America is intent on denying us. We are the answer. We are the solution.
Aluta Continua….The Struggle Continues!
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