Charles Stephens: We need to have a SERIOUS conversation about this. And I like that the article resisted just blaming it on the fact that more black people live in the South and so forth. (1) This is about developing health messaging and outreach strategies that are internal to black culture, and using black culture as a lens and perspective in crafting language and framing narrative (2) Strengthening black institutions to more strategically mobilize our communities around this issue (and not just black churches either, we need to be more imaginative about the kinds of black institutions we work with) (3) Identifying and mobilizing thought and practice leaders along with key influencers (and people that have actual impact) (4) We need to get writers, visual artists, storytellers and other cultural producers on board (5) And for black folk living in states that are not expanding Medicaid at the moment, we need to still do our best to identify strategies to connect them to healthcare (and not just about linking them to care in a clinical setting) but working to inspire a community ethic around health care while we continue to build strategic coalitions with the anti-voter suppression people, the living wage people, the marriage equality people to build political power, assert collective will, and assert pressure on these governors and legislatures that are complicit in working against our interests
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 01:11:52 +0000