My husband, Chef Jeff,  has developed charcot foot and is prone to foot ulcers due to diabetic neuropathy.  So, he sees a podiatrist and an orthopedist and is frequently put in some sort of cast, walking boot, or some other non-weight-bearing contraption.  At times, I’d make fun of his big foot and lilting walk. He would say how cumbersome the devices were, but I figured, “how bad could it be??”

Well, on Tuesday, my orthopedist (who also happens to be my husband’s surgeon), informed me that the x-rays he took 2 weeks ago confirm I have a fracture in my right foot.  I have been sentenced to 6 weeks in an Aircast Walking Boot.  OMG!!!

Now I’ve heard of walking a mile in someone else’s shoes, but did I really need to take this so literally?

Although I had been in pain for months, this “solution” is in many ways worse than the fracture. It has been less than a week and I am already complaining about the inability to move quickly, the stress on my shin and knees, and the inability to wear cute shoes during the summer.  But these few short days have given me a brand new appreciation for what my husband has been through.

Are you willing to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes?

There has been a lot of discussion on the web recently about race and racial tension. Much of the recent conversation has been fueled by Paula Deen’s recent admissions and the search for justice in the Trayvon Martin case.  It never ceases to amaze me how emboldened folks are by the anonymity of the internet – they post things that surely they would not say in a room full of people.

Yesterday, I read a post suggesting that since slavery was so many years ago, blacks should “just get over it.” 

Oh if only they could walk a mile in the shoes of black men and women! (And I’m not talking about Jay-Z and Beyonce]

Anyone who would state that blacks should just “get over” slavery does not understand the horrors that were the backbone of that institution. Men and women were forcibly carried from their homelands to become the property of men who treated them like animals and hated them because of their black skin.  Slaves labored hard in the fields, lived in shacks, and were fed scraps.  They were beaten to within an inch of their life and only provided medical care if they were in danger of dying, so their master would not suffer financial loss.  Families were ripped apart, sold to the highest bidder, women raped and forced to “breed” more slaves for their owners.

Yes, slavery was legally dismantled 140 years ago. Yes, the Civil Rights Movement took place 100 years after slavery was made illegal because blacks were still being institutionally enslaved. Just as the aircast I am wearing to heal an old fracture is painful and problematic, the process of healing after centuries of injury is painful and fraught with error.

And yes, hatred based on skin color still impacts the health and well-being of black communities today.

Are you brave enough to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes?  Better check the history first.

                                ~ One drop of knowledge can ripple through an entire community

I’ve been a bit paralyzed over the past two weeks - unable to put pen to paper. It hasn’t really been writer’s block, but more a state of shock.  In addition to preparing for a grant review and getting word that I did not receive most of the grants applied for, I am still reeling from the Trayvon Martin verdict.  The emotions I’ve been dealing with since the verdict go beyond sadness; they may even verge on situational depression. 

What is going on in this country?  When is it ever ok to take another person’s life?  The stuff that some folks have posted online about this case, the victim, the families, is so disheartening.  To steal a line from Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?”

The news came on the heels of a fantastic radio show on 7/7/13; an interview with an amazing undergraduate student from Delaware State U.  Roderick King (no relation to Rodney mentioned above) denied the odds, broke the family legacy, and became the first man in his family to graduate from High School! [Check him out here in an interview given after his receipt of the Delaware Governor’s Bioscience Fellowship].

What saddens me most is that Roderick could have been Trayvon and never given the opportunity to break barriers.  My daughter, Ashley, could have been Trayvon; a life snuffed out too soon.  I could have been Trayvon, cut down in my prime – simply because someone thinks I’m up to no good because they don’t like the color of my skin or the clothes I am wearing.  

Stop judging before you get to know someone!  

Be open-minded enough to give someone who doesn't look like you the benefit of the doubt.

If I had a quarter for every time people have followed me around in a store, crossed the street so they didn’t have to share the sidewalk, or snubbed my greeting, I would be rich!  And let’s not even talk about the disgusting posts likening me to a chimpanzee (and worse) simply because a newspaper quoted me as stating that racism is alive today and impacts healthcare.

Hate abounds in this country, so it’s up to the government, including individual State governments, to protect every citizen from wanton acts and cowards who feel emboldened to confront a stranger simply because he is packing heat.

Get involved. 
Speak out against injustice and laws that are applied inequitably.  
Talk to your State reps.  
Advocate for your community.  
Make your vote count.

                           ~One drop of knowledge can ripple through an entire community.

Amid the fireworks and BBQs of yesterday’s celebration, it is hoped that we have not forgotten the significance of July 4th – Independence Day.  This federal holiday commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, a statement written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. A statement declaring that the original 13 colonies no longer regarded themselves as part of the British empire, but as a new union – the United States of America.

Yet, not all men celebrated emanicipation, since at the time this document was signed, 20% of the population in the colonies was black, the vast majority of whom were slaves – a startling contradiction of a document that begins with the following admonition:

In all of our celebration, it is vital to remember that this country was founded on slavery; a fact that too many wish to simply ignore.  Jefferson himself was a prominent slave holder; who not only owned hundreds of slaves, but may have even fathered a few (On Jefferson & Hemings).

I frequently use the figure above in talks about racial inequities to remind folks that not only was slavery a race-based, government-propogated institution, its effects lasted well beyond the Emancipation Proclamation and in my view, continue to this day.  One day, perhaps we will all be able to celebrate Juneteeth, just as vigorously as we do the birth date of this great nation.  Many have not even heard of the holiday, despite it being officially recognized in 42 states.  Sadly, many young blacks are ignorant of the holiday. 

Juneteeth is a holiday that commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the state of Texas on June 19, 1865.  Astute history buffs will note the discrepancy between when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued (Sept 22, 1862).  Despite the Presidential Edict, several states did not comply and practiced slavery in rebellion against the federal government.  Texas was the last holdout, hence the significance of Juneteenth – celebrating the emancipation of the last remaining slaves in the United States.  Independence Day indeed!

                               ~One drop of knowledge can ripple through an entire community