NUTRITION & LIFESTYLE MEDICINE CONFERENCES
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The above "Black Lives Matter" street mural was a collaboration among the City of Charlotte (North Carolina), Charlotte is Creative, Brand The Moth, BLKMRKTCLT and 16 local artists who painted the 16 letters in 72 hours starting June 6, 2020. Photo by Maleek Loyd. See link.
Against Racism
Shown here: Bree Newsome Bass climbing the South Carolina State Capitol flagpole and removing its Confederate flag on June 27, 2015 (image published by The New Yorker).
June 19, 2020:
Racism vs. Public Health; Examining Privilege;
and 25 Views from My Neighborhood
[A long treatise on racism and privilege, and a very personal statement, by P-POD Conference founder Bob LeRoy]
Interwoven below are 25 images of activist street art from June 13, 2020 in a 5-block radius in the downtown area where I live in the small city of Asheville NC.
If you are reading this, you are probably part of what we could call a broad society-wide public health coalition. You likely work in a health care field, or educate others about health-promoting practices, or help guide health related policies that affect groups large or small, or advocate for the well-being of people in your own community. Most of us over the years have become painfully aware that the array of patients/students/community-members we may serve, does not reflect a level playing field when it comes to health outcomes. People's quality-of-life and apparent life expectancy when we meet them, and their prospects for improving any of this, have been shaped by what they've faced in the past.... perhaps negatives like long-term poverty, living in a food desert, severe nutrient deficiencies, lead paint or environmental toxicity exposures, developmental disabilities, depressed educational opportunities, juvenile-onset smoking, alcoholism, other addictive-substance dependencies, lack of health insurance, lack of sufficient funds for regular health care, poor availability of health care providers and institutions, debilitating wounds, chronic disease, or many forms of TRAUMA.
We of course care about the persons we serve, and it would seem "part of our DNA" to be very curious to dig up and confront the reasons why some are predisposed to do worse than others.
We cannot consider it a mystery that the deck has consistently been stacked, institutionally and structurally, against major segments of this society's population, literally for centuries. We in the health fields witness some of the results. For most of the predisposing negative life-experiences listed in the first paragraph, racism systematically makes them more likely to be endured by some groups in the population than by others.... for no genetically-dictated reason.
Shall we put it on a bumper sticker? "Racism sabotages public health." It's an enormous threat to all that we work for day by day.
THE LAST WORD WAS TRAUMA
There has been much surprise and shock that an historic pandemic has swept the globe this spring.... but many virologists were not at all astonished, and warnings about vulnerabilities had arisen for years, as smaller-scale outbreaks like SARS, MERS and H1N1 came and subsided without fully realizing their frightful potential of scope.
There has similarly been much surprise and shock in our society that a white police officer could kneel his full body weight on the neck of an already-subdued begging-for-breath African-American petty-crime suspect, all the while nonchalantly glancing toward and away from a passerby's cellphone-camera, as if a professional wrestler posing in smug victory for a TV audience.... all until he had secured the death of his victim.... all with the silent cooperation of 3 fellow officers.
What may be most important to recognize in this situation, is that tens of millions of African Americans in the U.S. were not at all surprised that this happened. Perhaps, a collective narrative from black Americans to other TV-watchers at that moment could have been, "NOW, do you believe us?". Some suggest that via the recent events a "tipping point" of awareness may have been reached for many OTHERS in society, about how African Americans may regard ordinary life as dangerous, and how lurking fear of possible hateful and arbitrary violent treatment might taint each day.... for an entire race.
There is a centuries-long heritage of organized violence against African Americans and their ancestors, running from seizure out of African homes, through the brutality and rape of slavery, through the repression and lynchings of the Jim Crow era, through the arsons and hundreds-scale massacres that decimated communities in Tulsa, Wilmington, Rosewood, Elaine, Ocoee, Opelousas and elsewhere1, through attacks by further generations of white supremacists, through today's persistent examples of law enforcement interactions mutating into what may understandably resemble extra-judicial lynchings by alternative means, such as gun, choke-hold or knee.
"Terrorism" is a term that became prominent to the point of preoccupation in the U.S. after the plane-hijacking incidents of Sept. 11, 2001. It has been defined as: the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims2; or, the calculated use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective3. A sober analysis could conclude that black persons in this land area have been victims of a many-times-revived campaign of race-motivated terrorism since the 1600's.
Today, Juneteenth4, anniversary of the announcement of emancipation to the enslaved in Texas, should be an occasion of celebration and pride, but it is also largely enshrouded in pain. The "general climate of fear" seems to have been re-created from generation to generation. Accumulated collective trauma to the African American population can help compromise the mental and emotional health of individuals, can add to stress-mediated risks of chronic disease, and can sometimes even manifest as distrust of essential health institutions, in context of at least a few notorious past violations of human rights such as in the "Tuskegee syphilis experiment"5.
Similarly, there are various Native American nations and communities in the U.S. where multiple kidnappings and/or rapes and/or murders of women over a period of years have stricken fear into the population6, newly restimulating trauma tracing back to displacements and genocidal violence spanning centuries. There are also numerous communities and families of U.S. immigrants for whom the history of violence being fled in native lands, the treatment upon arrival at U.S. borders (including possible family separation), fear of deportation during legal uncertainties and/or racial hostility encountered in daily life here, have built up anxiety and trauma to the point where many may isolate from institutions of mainstream society.... in numerous cases shying away from necessary medical care or even from law enforcement assistance when being victimized by crime7.
Racism-rooted trauma compromises the public health landscape.
FREE TO BE THWARTED ECONOMICALLY AT EVERY TURN
The accumulated economic impacts of racism upon African Americans are incomprehensibly large and multi-faceted. And, the adverse economic disparities faced by African Americans collectively in comparison with whites, directly make it more likely that they may be burdened by any of the numerous negative health determinants mentioned in the first paragraph. Thus there are built-in enhanced-risk factors, race-associated though not genetically-generated, that need to be contemplated by public health professionals as populations and communities are supported against health threats (chronic or otherwise).
Estimates commonly made that median household wealth for a U.S. white family is about 10 times that for a U.S. black family8, are not surprising, given the historical trail of racially-focused disruptions. Of course, Africans were plucked from any existing livelihood or assets when forced into slavery, and forbidden to own assets during bondage, then the promise by Union General Sherman to award 40 tillable acres to each emancipated black family was completely reversed by President Andrew Johnson9. Post-Civil-War "Black Codes"10 in southern states restricted the kinds of work freed slaves could do, taxed them for work permissions, limited their wage rates, forced prior wage forfeiture if they left a work engagement early, and/or shifted them into indentured servitude or unpaid work for contractual law violations. The Ku Klux Klan / Jim Crow era then placed immense obstacles in front of southern blacks gaining prosperous livelihoods that at all interfaced with white society, and bank lending for purposes of black-initiated business was all but impossible, a situation which long persisted. A number of times, as in the case of the Tulsa, Wilmington and Rosewood massacres11, an entire economically viable African American community was basically obliterated by white racial violence. In the north as well as the south, well-paying job opportunities always competitively favored whites over blacks for every generation to come, and this status quo was perennially reinforced by the near-universally lower governmental educational-institution investments in mostly-black communities compared with mostly-white communities.
The GI Bill at the end of World War II was considered a transformational catalyst for the rise of the white middle class, but the Veteran's Administration did nothing to facilitate African Americans' access to its vast benefits: though 7.8 million U.S. soldiers received a college education via the GI Bill, only about 20,000 of the 1.2 million black soldiers had registered in college after one year12; about 95% of their access was to be via historically black colleges and universities (HBUCs), because of the resistance of nearly all other institutions to admit them, but 1950 still had only seen a net decade's increase of about 34,000 in HBUC enrollment13; whenever returning black soldiers were offered jobs with wages well below subsistence level (and below norms for whites), if they refused such work, the Veteran's Administration (VA) immediately terminated their GI Bill unemployment benefits14; and, the VA gave free reign to participating banks to approve or reject GI Bill mortgage loan applications as they wished, thus preserving habitual exclusions of blacks, and for northern and southern states that have been studied, only 1 in 600 to 1 in 1,500 GI Bill home loans went to African Americans15.
Black farmers had faced daunting post-Civil-War barriers to earning a viable livelihood, via lack of inherited assets, hostility of local lending institutions and increasing southern disenfranchisement. The shrinking number of black families who clung to farmable-land ownership well into the 20th century then found direct obstruction in dealings with the primary farming support/promotion organization in the country, the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). From Depression era onward, the USDA credit and relief programs were indispensable to American farming, but the agency shamelessly discriminated against African-Americans at all levels16: denying equipment loans and crop-disaster payments while routinely approving these for comparable white applicants; delaying action on loan applications until planting season's end when funds would be useless; approving only a portion of loan requests insufficient to serve the purpose; reversing loan pre-approvals after farmers had contracted to spend the proceeds; humiliating applicants interpersonally; turning a deaf ear to discrimination complaints. A remarkable federal class action lawsuit, Pigford vs Glickman17, forced the USDA in 1999 to acknowledge this history of abuses for at least a 16-year period, and to create a reparations settlement fund, but persistence of discrimination protests even regarding fund administration led to further suits and Congressional/executive action to double the fund resources by 201018.... but the critical damage had long before been done. From 1920 to 1992, the number of black farmers in the U.S. had dropped from 925,000 to 18,00019.
Impediments to receiving adequately funded high quality public school education. Impediments to gaining reliable employment at an equitable prevailing wage. Impediments to getting bank funding to support business entrepreneurship. Impediments to receiving even the proceeds of plentifully-funded federal-government programs targeted at those who need a timely helping hand, like USDA farm relief and credit mechanisms, and the GI Bill. Impediments to getting tracked toward or admitted for an accredited college education. Racism-based impediments confounded the pathways toward equitable economic progress by many succeeding generations of African Americans, and this has been particularly devastating in the arenas via which inheritable wealth most likely can accumulate from humble beginnings over time: home ownership and farm ownership. The colossal "median household wealth" gap between whites and blacks in the U.S. constructed itself via many complex forces operating over a sprawling timespan, but it still can shift further due to societal changes. Some analyses a decade ago estimate that African American communities lost 53% of their wealth during the subprime mortgage crisis arising around 2007, and Hispanic families about 66%, whereas white families lost just 16%20. Still-worsening economic disparities between racial groups in aggregate as of that recession had major public health implications.
We will all benefit by taking the view of a historian, and being humbled by it. The viability and wealth of this country were built over a few centuries largely based upon two titanic-scale thefts of resources: theft of land resources from displaced Native Americans and theft of labor resources from enslaved African Americans. The implications of those transcendent thefts have spread out to impact the lives of the descendants of their victims, over one or more centuries, just as all the other racism-based actions within the society have meted out their respective effects upon both immediate victims and their respective descendants. As we interact with others in our professional roles or as individuals, we can become conscious of some burdens and some privilege.... burdens of those (whether African-descended or otherwise) who have had to cope with racist treatment, whether simply in present moments or in inherited accumulation through their past generations.... and the privilege of persons who have been perceived as close enough to default-mainstream-normalized societal race-and/or-class status that they (and likely their ancestors) have been able to avoid that adverse kind of treatment.
EXAMINING PRIVILEGE
A time of societal upheaval may be a great opportunity for new self-examination, and reevaluation/challenging of assumptions. This article is probably not worth writing or reading, without my offering an intensely personal example of how one's own assumptions and "narrative" may get turned upside-down.
My parents died due to typical American chronic diseases when I was 16. I had no siblings, and never went to live with another family member. I inherited my parents' furniture and their zero dollars, and before my 17th birthday went away to a college where I had a freshman scholarship. During one memorable year I had 7 simultaneous tiny part-time jobs. I basically lived a trial-and-error life (emphasizing error) without supervision for many years. Eventually I earned some Master's degrees, credentialed in a couple of professions and way later made my commitments to public health work and nonprofit activism.
Throughout my early adulthood I cultivated a distinct narrative about all this, that I had been a model of rugged resourceful self-reliant individualism, against all odds pulling myself by the bootstraps up out of poverty and orphanhood, and surprisingly making something of myself.... all the clichés of mainstream U.S. cultural mythology.
My self-talk narrative changed dramatically after a while. I concluded that if I had set out to live exactly the life I did live, making the choices I did make, but with a black skin, I would have been dead long before I did any public health or nonprofit work. I realized that I, the penniless orphan slinking into a daunting world, brought with me some invaluable assets.... white privilege, with an extra bonus add-on of male privilege. For a long time I had not contemplated what a parallel-Universe version of myself would have gone through without these.
As a teenager I shoplifted some books. Nothing happened. We are aware of a few African Americans who ended up dead just after shoplifting, and certainly more than a few whose violent fates were precipitated by some other incidents where the material stakes amounted to the $10-$20-$30 range. My exposure of this kind was brief, but there's much more....
I once had used a knife to cut up a grapefruit that I ate in New Haven train station, and was about to wipe the knife and put it away, when a police officer asked me why I was blatantly holding a knife in a public place. We are aware of black men being shot by police due to holding an object that was for one reason or another construed to be a weapon, even when there was no indication that the person was approaching or threatening anyone else. The courtesy of being asked the question about a knife before intervention might not be extended in every such case.
While driving my post-college $75 first car, I was stopped for speeding. Unacquainted with this, I had awkwardly produced only my driver’s license for the patrol officer. He gruffly demanded the car's registration as well, and I felt an anxious "oops" moment, and I abruptly reached for the glove compartment where I knew it sat. The officer made a deafening yell, and I whirled my head around to give him a sheepish and stunned look. I saw his red face and very tensed body language. He recognized that I was clueless about his reaction, so he explained to me that when I would make a sudden sharp movement toward some place in the car where I might be storing a gun, his training was to assume that I was about to shoot him, and he would have to strike first. He warned me never to do that again. In retrospect, based on research about police officers’ (or other subjects’) relative likelihood to perceive comparable actions by white or black men as lethally threatening21, I would judge that if I had been a young black man in that moment, my percentage chances of getting shot would have been quite far above zero. The roster of unarmed African Americans being shot during highway traffic stops, does grow year by year.
The above situations involved isolated exposure for me, but another was sprawling by comparison. Before my 24th birthday I had hitchhiked a cumulative total of 25,000 to 30,000 miles as a carless person determined to explore, almost all these miles being alone, covering 35 or 40 continental U.S. states plus Quebec and Ontario. Perhaps that encompassed 600 rides? The longest single wait I ever had was about 5 hours, and surely my total waiting-time was over 1,000 hours. I was confronted by highway-patrol / state-trooper personnel about 8 times, within which I was ordered to walk off the highway and never come back, or directed to go to a DIFFERENT place-to-stand that wouldn't bother them so much, or urged to be careful because this could be dangerous, or simply left there without comment after my ID card contents didn't arouse crime-flight suspicion. I was never arrested or ticketed, even by the trooper who told me that "Bob LeRoy" came up as a convicted felon in the Kansas State Police Database! I was never harmed during my odysseys, though one motorist turned onto the shoulder and accelerated directly at me, forcing me to leap off the road, and one pickup driver made a clumsy attempt to grab at me before I exited. I traveled with backpack and tent, and though I obviously pitched tent and slept in numerous totally-unauthorized places, I was never arrested or attacked or menaced due to my intrusions (police did twice tell me to pick up tent and go somewhere else). Poison Oak was my worst outcome. 3 times, people who picked me up gave me a place to stay in their homes, and 2 other times, I exchanged addresses with a driver and had a resultant friendship for years.
So, what would have been the experience of a lone young black man visible for over 1,000 hours hitchhiking throughout 35 or 40 states and camping illegally many nights? (In the first place, perhaps it would have required 2,000 or 4,000 hours of waiting to find willing drivers to cover the same distance, or I would have had to give up altogether in many cases.) It is incomprehensible to me that I would have escaped harm, and (without objective evidence) I would quote significant odds that I would have died thereby before the age of 24.
[It's a separate issue that a lone woman also obviously could not have hitchhiked to the extent I did without eventually encountering violent assault or death.]
I have always pretty much assumed that if I just circulate through society without intending, or at all signaling, that I was going to intimidate or harm anyone else, I would myself generally speaking remain safe. Starting with teenage years, I had walked streets alone in numerous localities, even at night, even taking short-cuts off the beaten paths, all through this never feeling fear, never imagining that I might arouse anyone's suspicion or hostility. I much later came to regard this "fearlessness" as a privileged state of mind dependent upon my visual identity of whiteness. (My appearance of maleness would also separately spare me the anxiety and dread a female would likely feel about possible sexual assault if moving about totally alone without restraint.)
In the case of African American males in this society, from barely-teen years onward, they, or certainly their family members with regard to them, likely endure quite a bit of fear about what traumatic incident might arise out of nowhere to threaten their life or safety.... due to reactions of others triggered by their blackness. A long-time cultural fixture in black families has been parents giving "the talk" to their coming-of-age sons, about what to do if there were ever an interaction with a police officer, to avoid needlessly being deemed an offender or a danger, and above all else to stay alive.... overcompensating in the direction of cooperativeness and politeness, suppressing any urge to challenge unfair or insulting or hostile treatment, showing hands and body that are obviously not poised to take any threatening action. My parents while they were alive would have never had any need to give me "the talk". My life story might look to some like it had some major doses of deprivation and risk along the way, but I would now interpret that my pathways were fairly safe, and that I accumulated strikingly little trauma over the course of time.
Privilege can help opportunities arise more easily. If I had been a black teenager, would SEVEN different employers have been willing to hire me to part-time jobs in the same year? As an impoverished young person, whenever I needed a part-time job, I could get one, even when I had zero prior experience in the kind of work involved. I later had the opportunity to embark on and earn multiple graduate degrees. Multiple times in my life, I was able to get on a particular path of work and activity, then later to trash it after concluding that it made no sense at all for me long-term, then to try starting something brand new from scratch, and later on abandon it too, repeating this cycle again and again, until I finally landed on my chosen life's work. Each point along the way, I could materialize further opportunities, for a 2nd chance, 3rd chance, 4th chance, etc. What privilege is implied here? For many in society, if you don't get it right the first time, you may not have a ready supply of further doors opening.
Based on my life experience, I'd say the privilege of being perceived as a white male greatly trumped the obstacles of starting out as a penniless teenage orphan without social skills.
A personal goal for me would be to try to retain whatever humility I've extracted from re-evaluating self or examining privilege over the years, and to apply it toward being a wiser human being or more effective public health activist.
REFERENCES
1 Tulsa race massacre of 1921. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, United States History, Politics, Law & Government, Law, Crime & Punishment. https://www.britannica.com/event/Tulsa-race-riot-of-1921
Clark Merrefield. The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the financial fallout. Shorenstein Center Communications, The Harvard Gazette, June 18, 2020. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/06/the-1921-tulsa-race-massacre-and-its-enduring-financial-fallout/
1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission and 1898 Wilmington race riot report. NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. https://www.ncdcr.gov/learn/resources-topic/1898-wilmington-race-riot-commission and https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p249901coll22/id/5341
Rosewood Massacre (1923). BlackPast.org, African American History, Events. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/rosewood-massacre-1923/
Elaine Massacre of 1919. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Early Twentieth Century (1901 - 1940), Civil Rights and Social Change / Early Twentieth Century / Government and Politics / Political Issues and Controversies / Race. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/elaine-massacre-of-1919-1102/
The Ocoee Massacre. The Weekly Challenger, Home, Hidden History. http://theweeklychallenger.com/the-ocoee-massacre/
Lorraine Boissoneault. The Deadliest Massacre in Reconstruction-Era Louisiana Happened 150 Years Ago. smithsonianmag.com, Sept. 28, 2018. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/story-deadliest-massacre-reconstruction-era-louisiana-180970420/
2 Lexico, powered by Oxford. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/terrorism
3 Terrorism | Definition, History, & Facts. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism
4 Texas Remembers Juneteenth 2020. Texas State Library and Archives Commission. https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/juneteenth.html
History of Juneteenth. National Registry, Juneteenth Organizations & Supporters. https://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm
5 About the USPHS Syphilis Study. Tuskegee University, Centers of Excellence, Bioethics Center. https://www.tuskegee.edu/about-us/centers-of-excellence/bioethics-center/about-the-usphs-syphilis-study
6 MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN & GIRLS: A snapshot of data from 71 urban cities in the United States. Urban Indian Health Institute, a division of the Seattle Indian Health Board. http://www.uihi.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Missing-and-Murdered-Indigenous-Women-and-Girls-Report.pdf
7 Samantha Artiga and Petry Ubri. Living in an Immigrant Family in America: How Fear and Toxic Stress are Affecting Daily Life, Well-Being, & Health. Kaiser Family Foundation, Disparities Policy, Dec 13, 2017. https://www.kff.org/disparities-policy/issue-brief/living-in-an-immigrant-family-in-america-how-fear-and-toxic-stress-are-affecting-daily-life-well-being-health/
Hamutal Bernstein, Dulce Gonzalez, Michael Karpman, and Stephen Zuckerman. With Public Charge Rule Looming, One in Seven Adults in Immigrant Families Reported Avoiding Public Benefit Programs in 2018. Urban Institute, May 2019. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/public-charge-rule-looming-one-seven-adults-immigrant-families-reported-avoiding-public-benefit-programs-2018
8 Lisa J. Dettling, Joanne W. Hsu, Lindsay Jacobs, Kevin B. Moore, and Jeffrey P. Thompson with assistance from Elizabeth Llanes. Recent Trends in Wealth-Holding by Race and Ethnicity: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, FEDS Notes, September 27, 2017. https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/recent-trends-in-wealth-holding-by-race-and-ethnicity-evidence-from-the-survey-of-consumer-finances-20170927.htm
9 Original entry by Barton Myers. Texas Tech University, Lubbock (09/25/2005), Last edited by NGE Staff on 06/08/2017. Sherman's Field Order No. 15. New Georgia Encyclopedia, History & Archaeology, Civil War & Reconstruction, 1861-1877. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-field-order-no-15
10 Du Bois, W.E.B. Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880. Free Press, January 1, 1998.
Black code. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, United States History. https://www.britannica.com/topic/black-code
Black Codes. History.com Editors. Updated: Oct 10, 2019, Original: Jun 1, 2010. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-codes
11 Tulsa race massacre of 1921. Written By: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. United States history: Home Politics, Law & Government Law, Crime & Punishment. https://www.britannica.com/event/Tulsa-race-riot-of-1921
Clark Merrefield. The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the financial fallout. Shorenstein Center Communications, The Harvard Gazette, June 18, 2020. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/06/the-1921-tulsa-race-massacre-and-its-enduring-financial-fallout/
1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission and 1898 Wilmington race riot report. NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. https://www.ncdcr.gov/learn/resources-topic/1898-wilmington-race-riot-commission and https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p249901coll22/id/5341
Rosewood Massacre (1923). BlackPast.org, African American History, Events. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/rosewood-massacre-1923/
12 Hilary Herbold. Never a Level Playing Field: Blacks and the GI Bill. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 6 (Winter, 1994-1995), pp. 104-108.
13 C. Munsey. But not all Americans benefited equally. American Psychological Association, November 2010, Vol 41, No. 10, Print version: page 57. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/11/gi-bill
Erin Blakemore. How the GI Bill's Promise Was Denied to a Million Black WWII Veterans. History.com, History Stories, Updated: Sep 30, 2019, Original: Jun 21, 2019. https://www.history.com/news/gi-bill-black-wwii-veterans-benefits
Hilary Herbold. Never a Level Playing Field: Blacks and the GI Bill. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 6 (Winter, 1994-1995), pp. 104-108.
14 Hilary Herbold. Never a Level Playing Field: Blacks and the GI Bill. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 6 (Winter, 1994-1995), pp. 104-108.
Erin Blakemore. How the GI Bill's Promise Was Denied to a Million Black WWII Veterans. History.com, History Stories, Updated: Sep 30, 2019, Original: Jun 21, 2019. https://www.history.com/news/gi-bill-black-wwii-veterans-benefits
15 Erin Blakemore. How the GI Bill's Promise Was Denied to a Million Black WWII Veterans. History.com, History Stories, Updated: Sep 30, 2019, Original: Jun 21, 2019. https://www.history.com/news/gi-bill-black-wwii-veterans-benefits
Ira Katznelson. When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2005, ISBN: 978-0-393-32851-6.
16 Roger Thurow. Soiled Legacy: Black Farmers Hit the Road to Confront A 'Cycle of Racism' - Many Lost Lands, Dignity As USDA Denied Loans Whites Routinely Got. The Wall Street Journal, May 28, 1998.
Susan A. Schneider. Food, Farming, and Sustainability: Readings in Agricultural Law. Carolina Academic Press, 2011, e-ISBN 978-1-61163-243-9.
17 Susan A. Schneider. Food, Farming, and Sustainability: Readings in Agricultural Law. Carolina Academic Press, 2011, e-ISBN 978-1-61163-243-9.
Tadlock Cowan, Jody Feder. The Pigford Cases: USDA Settlement of Discrimination Suits by Black Farmers. Congressional Research Service, May 29, 2013. http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/RS20430.pdf
18 Susan A. Schneider. Agricultural Law, A Member of the Jurisdynamics Network, The official blog of the AALS section on agricultural and food law, May 01, 2013. https://aglaw.blogspot.com/2013/05/discrimination-at-usda-response-to-new.html
Tadlock Cowan, Jody Feder. The Pigford Cases: USDA Settlement of Discrimination Suits by Black Farmers. Congressional Research Service, May 29, 2013. http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/RS20430.pdf
19 Christopher R. Kelley. Notes on African American Farmers. Agricultural Law Update, August 1999, p.4.
20 Rakesh Kochhar, Richard Fry, Paul Taylor. Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics. Pew Research Center, Social & Demographic Trends, July 26, 2011. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/07/26/wealth-gaps-rise-to-record-highs-between-whites-blacks-hispanics/
21 Plant EA, Peruche BM. The consequences of race for police officers' responses to criminal suspects. Psychol Sci. 2005 Mar;16(3):180-3. doi: 10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00800.x. PMID: 15733196
Correll, J., Wittenbrink, B., Park, B., Judd, C. M., and Goyle, A. (2011). Dangerous enough: moderating racial bias with contextual threat cues. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 47, 184–189. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.08.017
Plant, E. A., Goplen, J., and Kunstman, J. W. (2011). Selective responses to threat: the roles of race and gender in decisions to shoot. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 37, 1274–1281. doi: 10.1177/0146167211408617