Health
Equity and Justice Quotient: A new Approach to Structural Anti-racism
We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives. Toni Morrison The opposite of poverty is not wealth. The opposite of poverty is justice. Bryan Stevenson Today: Today’s leaders…
Read MoreRacism is Global – Time to Wake Up!
The political architecture of colonialism is structural racism. Racism is the house, which is to say it is the brick and mortar that frame and structure the rooms, the corridors, and ultimately the whole house. It is education and values that made the house into a home for colonialism in many African countries. An artificial…
Read MoreEmbracing Difference as Cultural Healing
In my last blog on Black Male phobia, I addressed the police fear of the Black male body and raised questions about what we should do to address this form of fear. The challenge of addressing racism rests on us all and there are actions we can begin to take to create healing spaces for…
Read MoreBlack Male Phobia – Is it Bias, Fear or…?
At a family gathering over the Easter break, a conversation arose over the various kinds of phobias people have. Of particular interest is when what is feared by one person is treasured by another. There are some kinds of fear for which general acceptance or at least understanding can be assured even by those who…
Read MoreOwnership of Coffee, Fries and Fashion – When you claim with the confidence to proclaim
To claim your space is to embrace your space, but to own your space is to have a sense of pride in it deep enough to proclaim it and invite others to share in it. To own does not always mean to lay claim to the originality of an idea or the products that result…
Read MoreWe Are All Tuskegee
On this Black History Month, I would like to share a blog that I did for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2014. Dec 10, 2014, 9:00 AM, Posted by Collins O.Airhihenbuwa Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, PhD, MPH, is professor and head of the Department of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University. The first RWJF Scholars…
Read MoreBeing with your spirit and your soul…
As we come to the end of the year to begin yet another, the question I would hope we each ask ourselves is: Am I at home with my spirit or have I become a stranger to my soul? The Edos of Nigeria have a saying; “ Ehi mwen su mwen – My spirit leads…
Read MoreTwo-faced? Race, gender, and/or Culture…
…Polylogue… voice 2 A young White woman says to her African American peer, “you always say everything on your mind” to which the African American responds, “you never say truly what is on your mind”. This exchange occurred in the early 90s and was shared by a fellow Black professor who was studying how to…
Read MoreWelcome to …Polylogue…Voice 1
For more than three decades, I have been on a journey with the mission of creating spaces to bring together people of diverse identities and views to build trust for the purposes of promoting health and well-being. I welcome you to join others and me on the next phase of this journey at U-RISE. Over…
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