Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Equality Bullets


February 26, 2020

How We Should Talk about Racial Disparities

Many 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have emphasized the role of historical and contemporary discrimination in creating and perpetuating disparities between Black and white Americans. This discourse underscores the critical responsibility of all public voices—including researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and journalists—to consistently use their platforms to call out the root causes of racial disparities.

When we name the historical and contemporary policies and practices that create and maintain racial disparities, we can challenge harmful stereotypes and narratives that shape the way people of color are perceived and treated.

Making this consistent practice can help produce effective solutions by rightfully shifting responsibility for disparate outcomes from people of color to systems of oppression.

Contextualizing disparities challenges harmful narratives

America’s dominant cultural lens and narrative center on white people and portray the country’s past primarily as a story of social innovation and progress.

Within this narrative, modern problems like poverty and crime are individual and communal failings, and, by extension, racial disparities are indicative of poor choices or behavioral patterns, not historical and continued discrimination. This narrative minimizes or erases the impact of the human trafficking and bondage of people of African descent and the subsequent terrorizing and humiliation of Black people through violence, the Black Codes, and Jim Crow. And it implicitly perpetuates the belief that white people are doing better because they are inherently better or are working harder, laying the bedrock for white supremacy.

“We know that the generational theft of the descendants of slaves is a part of why everything from housing to education to health to employment basically puts us in two different countries.”

—Mayor Pete Buttigieg

The historical context of racial disparities in every domain—healthhomeownershipeducation, and beyond—reveals a more accurate national narrative in which government-sanctioned policies and practices have facilitated the upward mobility of white Americans and created barriers to mobility for Black Americans.

Policies—more than choices, culture, or genes—explain disparate outcomes because race has no biological basis and was created solely to justify and facilitate systemic oppression.

By consistently providing context, we can help shape a new narrative that indicts the systems that created injustices, rather than the people oppressed by them.

Robust narratives can help challenge biases

Narratives are reinforced through popular culture, the news media, and political rhetoric, which subtly confirm or challenge our biases (PDF) about people of color.

We all hold biases, and whether or not we consciously subscribe to them, they influence how we perceive and treat others. Research shows that negative racial biases may be expressed as outright racism or lead to discriminatory treatment of people of color in hiring (PDF)education (PDF), and the criminal justice system.

Placing disparities in their rightful context can help challenge these biases by shifting blame away from individual people and communities of color. For example, researchers may report higher arrest rates among Black men than among white men. Taken at face value, these statistics may confirm racist stereotypes of Black men as violent and prone to criminality.

But if we discuss the role of punitive policing (PDF) (such as stop and frisk and racially discriminatory drug laws) and policies that have concentrated Black men in poor neighborhoods where the risk for offending and arrest is higher (such as redlining and the construction of segregated public housing) in creating these disparities, we can probe people to question the stereotypes they hold.

Robust narratives facilitate effective solutions

[Racism] is not just an issue that started yesterday.… We have systemic racism that’s eroding our nation from health care to the criminal justice system.

—Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)

When faced with any racialized problem— such as gentrificationdisenfranchisement (PDF)police brutality, or job discrimination—identifying effective solutions depends on properly diagnosing root causes. Without context, however, we may fail to portray the breadth of factors that drive the disparity or preclude ourselves and our audiences from learning from past mistakes. This can lead to the introduction of ineffective—or even harmful—policy solutions.

Using the example on racial disparities in arrests, without the context discussed above, one could conclude that Black neighborhoods and Black people need more surveillance and tougher responses to crime.

But within the context of structural racism, we can consider systemic reforms that acknowledge and remedy the historical and contemporary roots of crime, such as decriminalizing marijuanainvesting in communities of color, and increasing local economic development (PDF), which show promise in breaking the cycle of criminalization, poverty, and crime.

By consistently placing racial disparities in their historical context, we can push ourselves and our audiences to learn about the specific racist policies, practices, and systems that must be dismantled and replaced in order to close these gaps.          

Why isn’t this already common practice?

Too often we present racial disparities as bare statistics and at best, give a vague nod to “structural racism” or “structural barriers” as sufficient explanations for racial gaps. To change our practices, we must acknowledge the reasons why we tend to avoid including this discussion in our work in the first place.

Talking honestly about racism carries risks for public-facing individuals and organizations, whose status and finances depend on the perceptions of funders, audiences, and current and prospective employees.

Naming the structural causes of racial disparities can make some uncomfortable and drive them away. Unfortunately, many people refuse to grapple with the racialized history of the United States, especially if they benefit from white supremacy.

People may misconstrue calls to name white supremacy and oppression as threats to their personal identity, history, or economic standing. Facing America’s racist past also runs contrary to American exceptionalism and oft-professed values of liberty and justice.

Naming the policies and systems responsible for racial disparities can pose an economic risk for organizations, especially if they draw funding from organizations created to build white power and wealth.

Well-intentioned public voices may also shy from discussing the structural roots of disparities to avoid appearing biased or out of fear of lacking necessary knowledge to properly discuss these issues, opting instead to leave the discourse to “experts.”

Some may fear backlash from misrepresenting the history and experiences of people of color. It’s important that we approach these issues with informed thoughtfulness, but abandoning the discussion altogether creates a void that perpetuates harmful narratives and prevents finding solutions.

What does this look like in practice?

Making it standard practice to contextualize racial disparities is critical to addressing the root causes of inequity.

The federal government helped create the racial divide in this country through decades of active, state-sponsored discrimination, and that means the federal government has a responsibility to fix it.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

Public voices have perpetuated harmful narratives, so we have a responsibility to actively deconstruct them. This requires careful consideration not only of the intergenerational effects of racial discrimination but also of how a person’s race intersects with other aspects of their identity, such as class, gender, and sexual orientation. 

Many racial justice organizations—such as Advancement ProjectRace Forward, and Color of Change—have rooted their work to close disparities in its historical context for decades, and their approach should serve as beacon for all who share the same goal.*

Given the complexity of the subject matter, exemplary discussions of this topic can be useful:

  • Ta-Nehisi Coates’s acclaimed article on reparations
  • a recent New York Times article on Black homelessness in Los Angeles
  • an Urban Institute brief on African American economic security and a report on increasing economic opportunity for young men of color

Research that documents connections between modern-day disparities and discriminatory policies, like The Color of Wealth and The Color of Law, can serve as excellent references for our own work. Toolkits can help researchers incorporate a racial and ethnic equity lens into their work. Organizations in other fields should provide similar guidance.

Addressing persistent equity gaps will require more than changing the way public voices contextualize disparities. It requires reconsidering our values, turning them into action, and investing in the assets and leadership of communities of color. But this is an important step in the right direction.
 

*This sentence was added to better reflect the work of racial justice organizations in this space (updated 3/6/20). 

Sunday, May 24, 2020

CORONA VIRUS COVID 19 CANNABIS

Cannabis In The Time Of Coronavirus

With marijuana dispensaries deemed to be essential retailers in many US states, the last few months have seen the tables well and truly turned on the status quo. Not only is cannabis being sold openly, but the cops that used to harass dealers are now busting shady barbers for performing unlicensed moustache-trims and rebellious restauranteurs for serving unsanctioned spaghetti. Yet with laws varying wildly from one place to the next, the overall impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global cannabis landscape makes for interesting reading.

If the epidemic has demonstrated anything, it’s the ridiculousness and inconsistency of cannabis regulations. Step over an imaginary line on a map and all of a sudden weed is transformed from a medicine to a narcotic. The virus, meanwhile, has little respect for these local regulations and insists on affecting everyone equally, which only serves to highlight the unfairness of this unlevel playing field.

After all, it’s abundantly clear that demand for marijuana products has skyrocketed over the past few months, largely thanks to the unprecedented levels of anxiety that the coronavirus pandemic has inspired. In the UK, for example, a recent survey found that a record 8.4 million people are now using CBD[i], while a study conducted by the University of Miami found that anxiety is currently among the leading reasons for cannabis use globally[ii].

In states where weed is legal, this has resulted in something of a cannabis boom, particularly as the legal situation allows dispensaries to try out new ways of reaching customers during the lockdown. In Michigan, for example, recreational marijuana sales only began on December 1st, yet 66 of the state’s 104 dispensaries have already been approved for home delivery, meaning people can now order their supply from the safety of their home[iii]. This has allowed sales to increase steadily since the pandemic began, with April’s revenue up 40 percent on the previous month.

Compare this to Massachusetts, however, and it’s impossible not to feel a sense of injustice. Despite recreational marijuana being legal here as well, only those dispensaries that exclusively provide medical cannabis have been allowed to remain open during the lockdown. To make matters worse, those retailers that have been forced to close are ineligible for either the CARES Act or the Paycheck Protection Program – which provide financial relief to businesses affected by coronavirus – as cannabis is illegal at the Federal level. As a consequence of these legal contradictions, many dispensaries are now facing collapse[iv].

Another thing that the pandemic has taught us is just how robust illegal drug markets are, which perhaps isn’t that surprising. After all, The War on Drugs flopped spectacularly, so a flu-like virus was never likely to make a dent. Quite the opposite, in fact, with reports in the UK indicating that spiralling demand for marijuana has resulted in dealers raising their prices – some by up to £100 per ounce[v]! It is thought that many people are stockpiling cannabis in order to combat anxiety and boredom, while others are simply enjoying a cheeky smoke while working from home without their boss noticing.

According to a recent survey by Release, many dealers have been following the lead of other retailers by taking extra precautions to ensure their safety and that of their customers. The use of gloves and facemasks has become standard procedure, while many no longer accept cash, instead insisting on being paid online. Furthermore, to avoid spending too much time away from home, some dealers are now reportedly only accepting minimum order deals and even charging delivery fees[vi].

Consumers, meanwhile, have also adapted to the situation, with the survey indicating that 90 percent of smokers have considered switching to edibles in order to protect their lungs while the virus continues to lurk[vii]. Many have also decided to play it safe and order their cannabis online along with their groceries, rather than risk leaving the house. According to a new EU report, darknet marketplace Cannazon has seen a massive rise in cannabis sales over the past three months, shifting a total of 1.6 metric tonnes of weed in that time[viii].

All of which leads us to a rather delicious irony: for years, lawmakers have been desperate to bust online weed retailers, but even they would have to admit that in these strange times of social distancing, cannabis e-commerce may actually prove vital in flattening the proverbial curve.


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Cannabis In The Time Of Coronavirus

Published 2 days ago

With marijuana dispensaries deemed to be essential retailers in many US states, the last few months have seen the tables well and truly turned on the status quo. Not only is cannabis being sold openly, but the cops that used to harass dealers are now busting shady barbers for performing unlicensed moustache-trims and rebellious restauranteurs for serving unsanctioned spaghetti. Yet with laws varying wildly from one place to the next, the overall impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global cannabis landscape makes for interesting reading.

If the epidemic has demonstrated anything, it’s the ridiculousness and inconsistency of cannabis regulations. Step over an imaginary line on a map and all of a sudden weed is transformed from a medicine to a narcotic. The virus, meanwhile, has little respect for these local regulations and insists on affecting everyone equally, which only serves to highlight the unfairness of this unlevel playing ...

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY NOW

 

The Island Life 🏝

Published 3 days ago

When you arrive by ferry, which is the only way onto the island the main boats will take you to Thong Sala the island’s main town.  You will be met by lots of local taxi drivers all trying to get your business. Haggling is expected and most of the island can be reached by taxi for around $5 per person especially if you have a group of people going to the same place. 

Thong Sala is a nice small town, with almost no buildings over 2 floors tall and wide streets lined with all kinds of local shops mixed with places catering to the tourists. They’re a mix of bars and 2 great food markets. It is definitely one of the best places on the island to come and eat good food at really affordable prices. A lot of return visitors will come to town once a day to get ...

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Why Vape? Benefits to Vaporising

Published 4 days ago

If we think about it, smoking has been a part of human lives for hundreds of years. In fact, many centuries ago, our ancestors would recreationally and medicinally inhale and exhale smoke through a variety of innovative mediums – innovative at the time, anyway.

Today, we have cigarettes for convenience and ease-of-use, but these involve inhaling tar and other harmful toxins, which can be harmful not just to your own health, but others around you as well. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are over 5,000 harmful chemicals present in cigarette smoke.

Up until nearly four decades ago, smoking was considered pretty much normal and ‘second nature’. People could casually light up cigarettes in all kinds of places including airplanes, restaurants and even hospitals. Ironically, some doctors even supported the idea of smoking in the 1940s and 1950s.

Fast forward to 2020 and people have ...

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Does prenatal exposure to cannabis cause cognitive impairment?

Published 5 days ago

Researchers from Columbia University have just confirmed what many people already knew – that public policy regarding cannabis tends to be based on scientific findings that are murky at best and non-existent at worse. In a new study, the team probed the widely – accepted idea that cannabis use during pregnancy hinders infants’ cognitive development, and found that there has never been any real evidence to support this. 

It’s worth noting that this doesn’t mean that smoking weed while pregnant is definitely safe, but rather that there is no categorical proof that prenatal exposure to cannabis causes mental impairment. This is pretty significant when you consider that some 1,600 studies on the impact of marijuana on fetal cognition have been conducted over the past three decades.  

With that in mind – and at a time when dispensaries are increasingly offering cannabis products as treatments for morning sickness – the tendency of policymakers to cling to such unproven notions about ...

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Koh Phangan – The Magic Island

Published 1 week ago

I first came to Koh Phangan in 1995 as a young, naïve backpacker looking for somewhere special. Like most of us back then I’d heard about the island in whispered conversations from people I had met on my travel. 

This was before Alex Garland’s book ‘The Beach’ had come out and a long time before the film created an explosion of interest. As I arrived on that fateful first day, off a ferry from Koh Samui, I stumbled into one of the world’s most magical places. I had no idea at that point just how much this place would impact my life, the friends I would meet, the parties I would experience and the chance to actually live the dream of staying long term on a paradise island where the main preoccupation is fun and total relaxation. It is a place that reminds you of the good ...

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