THE DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT OF COVID19

HOW TO

PROVIDE “REAL”

SUPPORT FOR

BLACK/BROWN

CHILDREN AND

FAMILIES

PRESENTERS

• Valerie Dickson

• Ijumaa Jordan

• Jocelyn Tucker

THE BEGINNING

“We are not telling the truth about leadership in our own field, and I believe it is debilitating us. The purpose is not to assess blame, or ignite guilt, but to encourage a rigorous, honest look at leadership in our field for the purpose of its well-being.

It may be hard to understand or appreciate why it is important to speak difficult truths in public. It may seem that all it does is expose dangerous weaknesses and thus make us more vulnerable. In fact it does. However, it does something else that is less obvious but more powerful. The truth unleashes incredible positive energy.”

Alice Walker Duff, 1997

RACISM DEFINITIONS

1:1 discriminatory actions

and/or words

IS DETERMINED BY

Stereotypes + Prejudices

Limited/Lack of Access to

Goods, Services and

Opportunities

IS DETERMINED BY

Policies, Practices &

Procedures

Power to control access to

resources, ability to provide/limit

access to decision makers

IS DETERMINED BY

Value Systems & Societal

Beliefs

SYSTEMIC RACISM

INSTITIONAL RACISM

PERSONAL RACISM

INTERSECTIONALITY AND OPPRESSION

S O C I A L I D EN T I TI ES O PPR E S S E D GR O U P( S )

Age UNDER 18/OVER 60

Ability DIFFERENTLY ABLED (Physical, Mental, Emotional)

Class LOWER CLASS & MIDDLE CLASS

Gender Identity TRANSGENDER, GENDER NONBINARY

Nationality/Immigrant

Status

IMMIGRANT, DREAMER, UNDOCUMENTED, VISA HOLDER

Race

PEOPLE OF COLOR

(Pacific Islander, Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Central Asia,

Latinx, Indigenous, Black/African American, Bi-Racial, Middle

Eastern, North African)

Religion

NON-CHRISTIAN

(Muslim, Jewish, Agnostic. Atheist, Spiritual, Pagan, Indigenous)

Sex WOMEN

Sexual Orientation

LGBPQIA

(Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Pan Sexual, Queer/Questioning, Intersex,

Asexual)

A QUICK HISTORY OF SYSTEMIC RACISM

Genocide of Indigenous

people

Enslavement & Jim Crow

Colonization of Latinx people

Chinese Exclusion Act

Jim Crow, Repatriation &

Segregation

Military Segregation

in WWII

Internment of Japanese

AmericansRedlining

Pre-school to Prison

Pipeline

Economic Inequity

MEDICAL RACISM – A SHORT SUMMARY • Limited or no access to preventative and/or emergency

medical care

• Often refused medical services in emergency situations

• Tuskegee Experiment

• “Clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by

the US Public Health Service.

• The experiment lasted for 40 years.

• None of the men were ever treated for Syphilis

• Forced Sterilization of Black, Brown and Indigenous women

• Family Planning Services and Population Research

Act of 1970

• 25% of Native American women of childbearing age

sterilized through the Indian Health Service and

Medicaid patients

• Black and Latina women were also sterilized

MYTHS & STEREOTYPES

IN THE MEDICAL

COMMUNITY

2016 Univ. of Virginia –half believed in phony biological

differences between black and white people

2002 – Institute of Medicine - “racial and ethnic minorities

receive lower quality health care than whites, even when they

are insured to the same degree and when other healthcare

access-related factors, such as the ability to pay for care, are

the same.”

Black patients with renal failure, cardiac disease and cancer

are less likely to be prescribed care plans focused on cures.

This occurs even when Black patients have the same

insurance coverage as their White counterparts with the same

illness.

Multiple studies show we are that black Americans are “20

percent more likely to report having serious psychological

distress than” whites.

MYTHS IN THE BLACK/BROWN

COMMUNITY ABOUT MEDICAL CARE

• Hospitals are where you

go to die!

• “Black don’t Crack”

• Super-strength

MYTHS IN THE BLACK/BROWN COMMUNITY ABOUT COVID 19

https://theconversation.com/debunking-9-popular-myths-doing-the-rounds-in-africa-about-the-coronavirus-135580

Myth

“Melanated People” cannot get COVID 19

COVID 19 can’t survive in Hot Climates (like those in Africa and South America, the Caribbean and Southern States in America) we just have to wait until Summer and the virus will die off.

MYTHS IN THE BLACK/BROWN COMMUNITY ABOUT COVID 19

MYTH

Holistic/Home Remedies Prevent/Cure COVID 19

Drink hot water for 10 days

Eucalyptus Oil, Zinc supplements, Ginger Ale

and Vitamin C prevent/cure COVID 19

Spray Rubbing Alcohol & Chlorine on your

Body

Drink Vodka to Kill the Virus

WHAT CAN I DO?

• Educate Yourself

• Actively Listen

• Advocate/Use Your Voice

• Support Self Care Practices

• Share Legitimate Resources

• Be Realistic

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ECE?

“When it comes to Black kids, our schools are not

broken but operating as designed.”

Nikole Hannah-Jones, Journalist

EARLY CARE AND

EDUCATION IS A PART OF

SYSTEMIC AND INSTITUTIONAL

RACISM.This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

EXAMPLES OF INEQUITY

PRESCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE

PROGRAM POLICIES THAT UPHOLD WHITE DOMINANT

CULTURAL NORMS

SPECIAL EDUCATION

PLAY IS A RIGHT OF CHILDHOOD

FIVE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS

OFPLAY

1) Intrinsic Motivation;

2) Freely Chosen;

3) Pleasurable;

4) Nonliteral;

5) Actively Engaged In By The Participant

(Rubin, Fein, & Vandenberg, 1983)

PLAY AND EQUITY

Relationship Materials Space Time

COVID-19 HAS AMPLIFIED THE

CURRENT INEQUITIES IN

OUR EARLY CARE AND

EDUCATION SYSTEM.

MYTH

Black Families, Indigenous Families,

and Families of Color

don’t want play they want worksheets.

ADVOCATING FOR PLAY

Focus on and begin with Relationship

And

Work with the Space, Time, and Material that

families have at present.

COVID-19 AND PLAY THEMES

• Death

• Sickness

• Contagion (Who got the ‘Rona?)

• Isolation/Separation

• Medical Play

• Super hero play/ Rescuing and Saving

PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF PLAY INVITATIONS

TALK, READ, SING

Talk

Your life

Your experiences

Your dreams as a child

Your favorite story

Read

Books

Newspapers

Cereal Boxes

Magazines

Sing Anything

PLAY❖Approaches to Learning

oEstablish a routine

oClean up

PLAY❖Social and Emotional Development

oPositive interactions

oSocial Stories

PLAY

❖Cognition

oMatch the socks

oCount the shoes

oCompare amounts

oMelting ice

o“I spy”

PLAY

❖Perceptual, Motor, and Physical

Development

oFreeze dance

oHop on one foot, two feet, no feet!

oWheelbarrow race

oMud pies

PLAY❖Language and Literacy

oTalk

oTalk

oTalk

“Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up

on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that

they become the best that they can possibly be. Is this job tough?

You betcha. Oh God, you betcha. But it is not impossible. We can

do this. We're educators. We're born to make a difference.”

Rita Pierson, 2013

Every kid needs a champion, TED Talks Education