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Author: Nadira Jamerson     Published: 4/22/2022      Word In Black

Happy Friday, Word In Black Fam,It is my second week at Word In Black and I still have a lot to learn. But, I’m excited because I know I have such an amazing team to learn from — and given that today’s Earth Day, we’ve been talking about how Black environmentalists don’t always get the credit they deserve. That’s why I interviewed the founder of Black Millennials For Flint about their new documentary short “Toward Environmental Justice.” The nine-minute film schools us on the true influence of Black and Indigenous folk in the Environmental Justice Movement.Our morning meetings are my favorite part of the day because it is a time when we all come together to share our joys, fears, and stories about what’s impacting us in our everyday lives. This week, I got to learn from our education data reporter, Maya, about the barriers keeping Black students from joining and excelling in Advanced Placement classes. Did you know that across the country, the K-12 education workforce is largely white? More than 80% of teachers are white and only 10% are Black. Our hope is that increasing the number of diverse workers in schools can help eliminate teacher bias and give our Black children more opportunities to succeed.

I also learned that medical racism keeps our community and families sick for longer, and with more severe symptoms. One in four Black adults age 60 and over report experiencing racial discrimination from health professionals in their lifetime. But our health reporter Alexa’s article on confronting medical bias offers practical advice on how we can collectively begin to change this.   This week we also dropped some great videos on our Instagram about the collaborative history of our newsroom with a special look into the lives of the writers and leaders who make our organization thrive. We plan to use our platform to advance the voices of those in our community, and we cannot do that without first hearing directly from you all. If you’re not already, make sure to follow us for more updates on all things Word In Black. As always, thank you for supporting us as we continue to frame the narrative. Have a beautiful weekend. 

Best, Nadira Jamerson Digital Content Editor