AUGUST 8, 2020
LOS ANGELES FREE PRESS
Trauma within Black Bodies
Climate Critics Tear DNC Draft Apart MADISON HOIBY
CONTRIBUTING WRITER Following a recent resurgence in climate activism, a leaked Democratic National Committee Platform Draft is receiving mixed reviews for its approach to the climate crisis. The leaked 2020 platform surpasses its 2016 antecedent by length, but critiques from climate scientists suggest bigger isn’t always better. Although the new draft has strong suits, like transitioning the American agriculture sector to netzero emissions, it fails to address cutting down fossil fuel production and use within the U.S., two (of many) leading contributors to global climate change. The platform’s focus on climate is heavily influenced by the Biden-Sanders task force, established on July 8, but it seemingly tunes out progressive recommendations from the DNC, like converting all United States electricity, transportation, and building sectors to 100% renewable energy by 2030 and banning fracking and crude exports. However, sections of the draft concentrated on environmental justice succeeded in gaining support from climate activists. The draft included promises of investment into clean and wastewater infrastructure, sustainable and regenerative agriculture, and clean energy generation and distribution for communities, particularly those of Indigenous peoples. The draft also shared plans to establish an environmental justice fund to combat legacy pollution and noted current
health risks disproportionately affect people of color, low-income, and Indigenous communities. The platform also mentioned efforts to invest in sustainable infrastructure and energyefficient public housing, as well as retrofitting buildings and improving energy access. In addition to environmental-justice goals, the platform mentioned swapping out school buses across the country with zero emission alternatives, weatherproofing energy systems in various municipal buildings, and working towards making the U.S. agriculture sector reach netzero emissions by 2050. However, with promises like these, many skeptics claim there must be measurable numbers and statistics to track true progress. “The platform should be more clear and accountable,” Daniel Aldana Cohen, a University of Pennsylvania sociologist, stated in an article by the Earther. “... it needs to be more ambitious on grant programs to retrofit low-income tenants’ homes, because no market incentive program will ever reach those units.” The 2020 draft, which was sent to approximately 200 party delegates on Tuesday, July 21, will be reviewed and amended in time for the Democratic Party Convention in mid-August. During that time, party officials can tweak the platform to better address the climate movement. To review the entire 2020 Democratic Party Platform draft, visit DemConvention.com.
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How the experiences of poverty and racism can have a detrimental impact to the mental and physical health of African Americans across a lifetime. LORRA TOLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER Trauma changes our physiology. Exposure to early adversity affects the developing brains and bodies of children. It has the ability to affect brain structure and function development, the immune system, the hormone system, and the way DNA is read and transcribed. Trauma activates our bodies stress response system regulating our fight-or-flight response. According to Harvard University Center on the Developing Child, when the human body is threatened, it prepares to respond by increasing its heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormones, like cortisol. However, when the system is overactivated through adverse experiences, it goes from being adaptive and lifesaving to maladaptive and health damaging. According to a TED Talk given by Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris, children are especially sensitive because their bodies are just developing. Stress responses of this nature can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity like the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship and racism, two common traumatic experiences African Americans may face from a young age. This type of over-activation of the stress response system can disrupt the development of the brain and other organs,
as well as increase the risk for mental and physical health issues well into one’s adult years. Dr. Harris studied the impact of childhood trauma on individuals over their lifespan and found it dramatically increases the risk for developing seven out of the ten leading causes of death in the United States and can potentially reduce life expectancy by 20 years. This led to an adverse childhood experience research study, which asked adults about exposure to experiences and correlated scores to health outcomes. About 67 percent of the sampled population had at least one adverse experience. The higher amounts of adverse experiences in childhood, the greater the likelihood of developmental delays and later health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, substance abuse, and depression. Poverty is one example of an adverse childhood experience that African Americans face because of the environment the child is forced to grow up in. The way genes are expressed depends partly on the environment the individual is exposed to. Brain structures that are tied to processes critical for learning and educational functioning are vulnerable
to the environmental circumstances of poverty, such as elevated life stressors, less caregiving support, limited stimulation, and nutrition. This trauma can contribute to intellectual deficits in development and have a lasting effect on an individual across a lifetime. Racism is another example of an adverse childhood experience that can have a lasting, traumatizing effect on the mental and physical health of African Americans. The unfortunate effect of structural racism is that it has a violent impact on black communities, including insufficient access to nutritious food options, poorer education systems, and insufficient quality healthcare or even access to healthcare at all. Nancy Krieger, professor of social epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, discussed the relationship between racism and black infant mortality, finding that the mortality rate among black infants in the U.S. is more than twice that of white infants. Evidence suggests that a key factor may be traumatic stress among black mothers caused by racial discrimination. Years of dealing with discrimination and other stressful effects of racism, while living in poor, segregated neighborhoods, can lead to a physical, mental, and emotional toll taken on the body, prompting biological changes in women that can affect the health of their children.
A Case For Reparations OLIVIA FLETCHER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER Would you still consider Olympic gold medalist, Michael Phelps, in such high regard if he only won each race due to a head start? I doubt it. What makes Olympic races so special is each countries' competitors' equal opportunity to win. Americans would be outraged if another athlete won an Olympic race due to a head start. Nobody would take the Olympics seriously because it would be blatantly unfair. If head starts are clearly recognized as unfair in sports, then why do we so easily view life head starts as fair and just? The head start I'm drawing parallel to is the generational wealth white people continue to benefit from while black people remain miles away in the race for the "American Dream." For example, data shows that black people are less likely to own homes, graduate colleges, and have a lower median household income than white people. It’s no secret that home ownership and a college degree are important to build generational wealth. However, black people are still
disproportionately disadvantaged in comparison to white people when it comes to acquiring both. Many people call for justice through means of reparations, defined by Oxford languages as “the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.”. A common rebuttal to reparations is that it's too late for it to be considered, noting the current generation of humanity isn’t directly responsible for slavery. However, this ignores recent issues like Jim Crow Laws and Redlining which are still affecting the black community today. In addition to black people being financially disadvantaged, bias (both conscious and unconscious) negatively affects the chances black people have at succeeding, and thus, their right to the pursuit of happiness. According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, “one out of every three Black boys born today can expect to be sentenced to prison, compared 1 out 6 Latino boys; one out of 17 white boys.”.
The Urban Institute found “the gap between the black and white homeownership rates in the United States has increased to its highest level in 50 years, from 28.1 percentage points in 2010 to 30.1 percentage points in 2017.” If nothing is done about this, then the inequality gap will only continue to increase. Reparations could help resolve this issue and many more. I, along with others, argue that reparations are the most plausible way of helping the black community obtain an equal shot at the American Dream. The winner of the 2020 election will make a significant difference on how the US handles reparations. Joe Biden is willing to look into the study reparations while President Trump announced he “does not see it happening.”. Other candidates like Marianne Williamson, who dropped out of the election on Jan. 10, advocated for completely skipping the study and proposed reparations of up to $500 billion be made to the descendants of slaves.
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White people have inherited
generational wealth from their ancestors at the expense of black people inheriting poverty. It is our duty as citizens of a country that prides itself on equal op-
portunity, to ensure each person has an equal shot at theAmerican Dream. A fair shot that starts when disadvantaged citizens receive reparations.
A protestor raises a sign reading ‘STOP KILLING US,’ during a protest in Pershing Square, downtown Los Angeles, on Juneteenth, 2020 (Photo: Zach Lowry / Redux Pictures)
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