M3.3 Environmental Justice Blog
How does this fit into the concept of "social determinants"? How does it connect to the "Black Lives Matter" movement?
Blog about your observations/thoughts regarding environmental justice.
When we consider the social determinants of health we often think of the six items listed below. The social environment, economic environment, health services, physical environment, health behaviors, and biological influences. Each individual person or family defines what these mean to them--in context of where they live and how they live. One thing we often forget is that systemically many stringent rules and boundaries were put in place in order to keep people of color within certain geographical and physical boundaries. In order to offset the restrictions placed upon them, I think minority people began making the best of their situation paying little mind to the conditions of their physical environment and focusing on surviving.
Throughout history we have seen many instances of peaceful protest and revolutionary ideas of equality and equity. But it is even more important now as we begin to see the side effects of rampant systemic racism. The "Black Lives Matter" (BLM) movement is a call to action for minority peoples and their allies. This movement, similar to feminism is about providing equality to the races and breaking the institutionalized idea that those with brown and black skin deserve less. The BLM movement demonstrates the power of specificity as each social determinant is woven into the how and the why of the movement. In order to impact the physical environment the BLM movement is demanding that people of color feel safe in their own communities. In order to impact the social environment the BLM movement is demanding that institutions of power, like the legislature, law enforcement, etc be reviewed in order to decrease and eventually eliminate racial profiling etc.
I think these two topics are interwoven and provide an additional lens in which to view systemic racism and oppression. It allows us to see that these challenges were not just in the political or educational arenas but have had a large impact on every piece of our lives.
"I think minority people began making the best of their situation paying little mind to the conditions of their physical environment and focusing on surviving."
ReplyDeleteI found this statement striking. Minority people should be able to shift their focus from merely surviving to thriving in their environments. However, it is sad to think that society isn't doing enough to address the poor conditions they tend to live in. There are so many facets of society that racism and oppression has managed to contaminate, and it will take a lot of work to address them.
Hi, i enjoyed reading this post! I definitely think that people do not focus on physical environment when they are trying to survive in this economy. This also happens in healthcare. For example, I'm doing clinical rotations at an urban community clinic, in which I visit people at their homes to do physical assessments and communicate any needs between them and their providers. Often time, people report missing appointments or not picking up medication because they did not have time to do it as they work multiple jobs and have children. Health is often put in the back of people's mind when it comes down to that and work.
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