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Here’s the Tea

Wellness has become a trillion dollar industry over the past decade, yet many people of color are still not able to participate. For my long time readers you know that health is really important to me, even in the midst of a pandemic I’ve been continuing to work out and eat well, so I will be sharing a series of blog posts this month dedicated to the wellness space that highlight issues black people face, to share resources that you can look into that will help alleviate some of these barriers and highlight black owned businesses as well ass influencers in these spaces that you should support.

Here’s the thing, many marginalized groups barely have time let alone resources to put towards their wellness because of the racial institutions that are currently in place. I have been blessed not to experience this myself but I know accessibility to quality food is a huge barrier a lot of families face. While the obvious answer is local food charities, this issue is caused by a number of factors. Consider the statistical fact that people of color are paid less, especially women of color, than our white counterparts. Making less money impacts us on several levels. One of the most important being where we can afford live. And this should go without saying but I will say it, where you live is important. It is the difference between a safe or dangerous environment, quality or questionable housing, good or non-existent transportation options to get to jobs and grocery stores, the types of food you have access to and many other things. As we raise our voices to fight for black lives, this is an area that can not be overlooked! As we consider reallocating money from police we need to be pushing that the money be focused on the lack of options provided to black communities that are bountiful in largely white communities. And while it’s simple to use examples of people who’ve “bootstrapped” to make it work as an excuse to tell people they aren’t working hard enough, you need to be aware that the options and resources that some minorities had to help them rise out of these situations are not equally available to all. If you’re wanting to help make a difference in this space here are some organizations, policies, and resources to look into:

Equal Pay Today-helping to close the wage gap for women
Racial Wage Gap– an interesting article that dives into the differences between how men of color get payed compared to their white counterparts
Anita B– helping more women of color break into the technology space
Paycheck Fairness Act– which would require employers to provide pay information by race and gender to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and allow employees to openly discuss salaries with colleagues without repercussions
How the Government Can Make Housing More Affordable-looking into how much the cost of living has increased and what the government can do to reduce the cost of housing
Feeding America– helping fight food deserts with mobile pantries and helping eligible families qualify for SNAP
Forgotten Harvest-delivering surplus food to local food charities
Some Michigan/Detroit specific organizations include: Gleaners, Food Bank Council of Michigan, and Keep Growing Detroit.

There are many more organizations and policies out there. I recognize it can be overwhelming to try to learn about them all but I suggest you do your own research to understand what each organization does or what each policies will do to create the change we are asking to see.

Not having to worry about access to quality food should be a human right but with our current institutions it is a privilege. Outside of supporting organizations and voting for policies that will enact real change, we can be more intentional with our spending by buying from black owned businesses. Here are a couple of black owned businesses & influencers you can support in the wellness space: