As a young Black man born in the 1990’s, I’ve already lived through the crack era; 9/11; the Great Recession; a housing crisis; rollbacks of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the largest mass shooting in US History several times over; active shooter drills in schools; Muslim, Jewish and Asian hate surges; the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others; the overturning of Roe v. Wade; and a global pandemic. Undoubtedly, we are all living with trauma that must be addressed and our representatives should always be looking for ways to make seeking help easier and less stressful.
Additionally, we must invest in solutions that prevent people from suffering from the burden of medical debt, address the maternal mortality crisis that is killing women of color at an alarming rate, ensure our safety net and teaching hospitals have the investments they need to serve our community, and allow hospitals to provide essential, preventative community programming at places like farmers markets and health fairs.