medical-racism

In response to claims that Harlem is overburdened by drug-addiction rates and overdoses, a methadone clinic is being built on 145th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in West Harlem. However, community members argue that this clinic is not needed in the area.

High air pollution rates. Toxic waste plants. High temperatures. These are only some of the issues that West Harlem residents face as a result of the ever-worsening climate crisis, coupled with systemic neglect on the part of government officials, the New York City Housing Authority, and the disproportionate number of pollutant-producing entities in the area.

Halfway through the interview with Dr. Raymond Givens, two young boys materialize through the slightly-pixelated Zoom virtual background displaying the stoic face of the rapper Biggie Smalls. The little one pops cheerfully through the famous rapper’s mouth, waving a tiny green toy at the camera, and the taller one comes running through the rapper’s tilted plastic crown, grinning cheekily and tugging at his father’s surgical scrubs. Givens, smiling at his sons and not at all fazed by the distraction, smoothly introduces his six-year-old, Lucas, and his two-year-old, Nicholas, pausing momentarily to swoop Nicholas into his lap and put his arm around Lucas’ shoulder. Givens gently corrals them out of the room, apologizes for the interruption, and without missing a beat, returns to the discussion of his efforts to change the name of Bard Hall.

On June 4, 1914, Columbia unveiled a statue of Thomas Jefferson in front of the Graduate School of Journalism. A gift “to the city” from Joseph Pulitzer—the namesake of the school and the esteemed prize in literary arts—the statue represented, to University President Nicholas Murray Butler, the perfect ideological and spatial complement to the statue of alumnus Alexander Hamilton, which was unveiled in 1908.

Against the advice of almost every Black woman I know, I decided to watch Tyler Perry’s reprehensible adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf this week. While Shange honestly depicts the struggles women of color face when searching for community, self-love, and healing, Perry focuses on the violence often inflicted on these women for no reason other than to add to the drama of the film.

I did not watch “Lady Bird” until the end of my senior year of high school, months after it came out. I distinctly remember talking about it during lunch with some of my classmates. Many of them said the plot of the movie felt true to our senior year experiences (I definitely related to the strained relationship between Lady Bird and her mom). Overall, it was a pretty “OK” movie - a solid three star rating on Letterboxd, maybe 3.5 if you’re feeling particularly emotional when you watch it.

Your point of view on society’s race issue can dictate the harm of your privilege. In this nation, attempts of self-representation by Black people are met with counter-narratives that silence or smother their testimonies.