• As many others pointed out, only until Serena Williams suffered similar disparities in medical treatment as other Black women have did this issue start getting attention from mainstream media. Liz offers another example from Trinidad and Tobago: “Just recently, in the Trinidad Express newspapers, there was a young 22-year-old woman who got kidnapped and murdered. This was taken up very seriously by authorities only because she works as a clerk in the Magistrate Court. There had been lots of kidnapping, raping, and murdering of females, but it went under deaf ears. That is very unfair; all women need to get the same justice.”
• Lynden asks how many people we never hear about: “If Serena Williams was not a tennis superstar, her voice would not have heard as much as she so simply put it in an interview with Glamour. “If I wasn’t who I am, it could have been me,” she told Glamour, referring to the fact that the privilege she experienced as a tennis star intersected with the oppression she experienced as a Black woman. How often are black women silenced when asking for help? “
• Natalia writes: “In my opinion, someone’s freedom shouldn’t depend on a celebrity’s influence. This kind of system should draw attention in another way. Prior to this getting a lot of attention I have never heard about it nor knew what it meant. There has to be a kind of change where issues like these can be done without someone powerful.”

I agree with Natalia, but I worry that we don’t have much of an option. Even if it is not persuading powerful people, it is pressuring them to act in the interest of things that incentivize them (e.g., staying in office, profit).

What does that mean for your projects? Toward end of semester, we will work on a “campaign for circulation” of some key points you found in your research. Perhaps targeting getting the attention of people with voices that are loud and have audiences that will be receptive and take on action on your message?

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