Black Women SAVING the World
In March We Celebrate…
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett
Who’s Mixing Your Coronavirus Immunity Cocktail?
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, better known as Kizzy, is a viral immunologist at the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health. She is a key scientist behind the Covid-19 vaccine.
A Black female who developed the vaccine to stop a virus that disproportionately killed so many African Americans. Due to the US’s original sin, slavery, Black America’s health, and wellness are mangled by the history of medical crimes, genetic trauma, and institutionalized racism.
Kizzy respects that some Black folks simply do not trust the system. She’s educating and engaging. Making sure that Black people know it’s made for us by us. Kizzy is saving the world by playing a critical role in stopping the biggest pandemic that it’s ever seen.
Dana Peterson
It’s Not Your Imagination - Lenders Aren’t Feeling You.
Dana Peterson was a Citigroup global economist. During her professional ascension, people questioned her right to be there. Students assumed that she earned her spot through affirmative action. Dana was stopped and frisked by the police in an act of racial profiling. Even though she was widely respected at her job, she never put her photo on her email signature because of valid fears about racism.
Dana used her love of numbers to quantify the cost of discrimination. She figured out that the US economy lost $16 trillion over 20 years by not closing racial gaps. When Black parents didn’t get that mortgage, it ensured generational poverty. The lenders lost profits by making white supremacy their guiding principle.
Dana knew that the only way to get the wealthy elite to care about Black lives was to break it down to dollars and cents. She’s saving the world by making sure that the wealthy realize how they’re losing because of racism too.
Secretary of State of California, Dr. Shirley Weber
Check your mailbox for that reparations check!
If Secretary of State of California, Dr. Shirley Weber gets her way, long-delayed justice could be delivered to the descendants of African slaves in California. California leads the USA on policy, so other states may follow suit.
She introduced legislation to study reparations. This legislative seed could blossom into atonement - an apology with a line item for funding.
Reparations, Cali style, could come in the form of higher education, down payments for homes, grants for Black-owned businesses, or cash money direct deposits.
Sheryl is saving the world by forcing white supremacy to confront itself by paying for its ill-gotten gain and privilege.
Nse Ufot, Tamieka Atkins, Helen Butler and Deborah Scott
The Right To Vote Gone Very Wrong.
Black American women got the legal right to vote in 1965. This country has treated Black women like invaders. The legislation wasn’t enough to force old, racist institutions to let us have a say. Voter suppression used to be expressed through lynchings. Even now, community organizers deal with death threats from MAGA maniacs.
But the majority of the voter suppression happens via red tape. Ejecting legitimate registrations. Removing ballot drop boxes in the middle of the night. Ensuring that polling hours don’t match the availability of the poor and working class.
Nse Ufot, Tamieka Atkins, Deborah Scott, and Helen Butler are activists who fought back and won. They lead critical nonprofits in Georgia that helped to turn it blue. Their groups engaged residents, registered thousands, got people to the polls, and ensured that votes were counted. All during a pandemic and against the backdrop of hostility from MAGA. These four women saved the United States and the world - by registering one person at a time.