From The Black Lens interview with NoHLA co-executive director, Daphne Smith, "Health equity Is collective work: Representation without awareness creates bigger problems," by April Eberhardt:
Representation matters, but representation with awareness matters more. If the process excludes people for unfair and biased reasons, then I have to talk about the system–not just show up as the representation.
Healthcare should be built on supporting those who need support, not giving access to people who already have options.
Look at what Dr. King was doing before he was assassinated–bringing poor whites, Black and Latino families together. If we come together now, when the system is breaking, there’s an opportunity to build something new that includes all the people pushed to the margins.
The systems–healthcare, education, banking–are all built the same way, and they were never built with us in mind. But we can learn them, navigate them, and change them together.