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other evening i was having a problem with my ipad although most of my applications were working correctly i was not able to hear any sound via my headset after trying various headsets i determined the problem was in the tablet itself not the headphones i sought out some online support and was advised to do a soft reset the soft reset would return a number of my applications to their original settings without losing my data photos contacts saved emails etc i followed the directions and was able to get the sound to work however if i had to do a hard reset i would turn my tablet into a device that was like it was when it first left the factory my previous data would be gone i would need to start from the beginning the situation we are in the midst of covid 19 the novel corona virus pandemic calls for a hard reset far too many people keep talking about how to get back or return to normal without understanding there can be no return to normal with the level of devastation this virus has wreaked upon the world and particularly black people as a people with less resources and the least able to work remotely we find ourselves deemed essential in jobs like public transportation sanitation grocery and pharmacy store clerks and health care workers we are also a group of people with less access to quality health care and are likely to be treated unfairly by the health care system because of this limited access to health care and other financial resources black people have accumulated a number of underlying health challenges hypertension diabetes heart disease and cancer that place them at greater risk for contracting covid 19 and dying from it the pandemic has forced a drastic change in our lifestyles those who can work from home our children are unable to attend school many of our churches are closed yet there are calls for returning to what we had before this disaster this is not possible millions of people have lost their jobs students without computing capacity and access to wi fi have been unable to keep up with school work schools have been unable to offer full service instruction and lurking just beneath the surface of all of this trauma is a giant ticking mental health bomb just opening the economy will not restore businesses that have gone bankrupt it will not replace bank accounts that have dried up it will not fix homelessness it will not fix food insecurity the stimulus checks reflect emergency money but do not put people on secure footing our children have seen death without proper closing rituals they have seen sickness without comfort they have suffered abuse without help from caring adults we need a hard reset a hard reset for this society means we have to first and foremost forgive all debt that has accumulated during the pandemic debt that continued during the pandemic e g inability to pay student loans car loans mortgage debt credit card debt etc must be forgiven next in the world of education a hard reset means we do not penalize students for conditions beyond their control we must ignore the test scores and grades coming out of the pandemic we all need a clean slate and a fresh start there is no going back there is only going forward and we need to go forward with as much equity and justice as we can muster we do not need to try to test our way to equity or penalize people for devastation that was visited upon them we can learn lessons from school recovery in post world war ii japan or europe how did these education systems start again i am sure they did not worry about what page their students left off on before bombs were dropped that totally destroyed their lives the first order of business was to help children and their families heal a hard reset means we have to re think what we ought to teach as well as how to teach a hard reset means we cannot see teachers as essential workers only in the midst of a pandemic we now realize their work is essential to the everyday well being of our children we know that without a viable public health system we will be vulnerable to the next global pandemic and there will be a next one we know that people need to earn a living wage to avoid catastrophic loss we cannot patchwork our way to post pandemic life we have to have a hard reset stay black smart leave a comment requiem for a blues people posted on april 15 2020 by black smart photo by david mcnew getty images by now you or someone you know has been touched by covid 19 the novel corona virus this cruel disease is burning a path through black communities in new york detroit chicago milwaukee and new orleans to name a few and not only are black people coming down with covid 19 they are dying from it at a disproportionate rate far outstripping their proportion in their cities we are told black people are succumbing to covid 19 because they are more likely to have more underlying health risks diabetes hypertension cancer asthma and copd for example at some point officials at local state and national levels finally admitted that black people s high morbidity is a direct result of longstanding and persistent social disparities lack of access to health care poor housing low level employment and limited access to quality food etc that s the subtle way of saying racism is killing us despite the acknowledgement that an unfair system is leading us to early graves somewhere the discussion came back to our dying being our own fault the surgeon general a black man named jerome adams defaulted to that old bromide black people are dying because they are not taking personal responsibility for their own health he stood in front of a national audience at the daily covid 19 press briefing and said black people need to stop drinking alcohol and stop smoking he said that as if white people do not drink remember the 3 martini lunch or smoke he did not tell white people to stop using meth or opioids no his admonition was directed solely at black people so in the midst of our dying we are being shamed on top of all of this death and suffering i am even more concerned about the way this moment is keeping us from one of the most sacred rituals of black life the homegoing or what the rest of america calls a funeral black homegoings are an important culmination of our journey here on earth they allow family and loved ones to say a formal and public goodbye to the deceased it allows us to speak well about the departed it allows community and friends to surround us with condolences prayers and love it allows us to send our loved ones into eternity with proper reverence and ceremony in addition to the formal ceremony there is the repast and no one does a repast like black folks as someone who has worked most of her adult life with white colleagues i have been to my share of white funerals some are somber some have a sense of humor or even whimsy but none has had a repast like a black repast my white colleagues often have what might be termed a reception there will be fruit and vegetable trays perhaps a finger sandwich platter some cookies punch and or coffee however a black repast is a banquet it has chicken sometimes 3 types baked barbequed and friend ham turkey baked macaroni and cheese yams greens green beans potato salad spaghetti cornbread dressing rolls a wall of pies cakes cobblers banana puddings and ice tea kool aid and coffee this food is a result of friends family church and community members bringing special dishes to be shared among the grieving family this black grieving ritual is being totally lost in a time of covid 19 the requirement to stay in our homes in order to stay safe along with not having any gatherings of more than 10 people means we cannot have what we think of as a black homegoing thus covid 19 is not only stealing the lives of our loved ones it is stealing our traditions it is forcing us to grieve alone when the patriarch of the famed marsalis family ellis marsalis died last week all i could think of is that he would be laid to rest without the benefit of that new orleans staple a second line people would be unable to dance behind his casket to the rhythmic beat of horns and drums playing when the saints go marching in instead less than a dozen of his family and or friends will assemble in a quiet service to say their goodbyes perhaps after we come through this period they will memorialize mr marsalis but the memorial will lack the immediacy and feeling of a traditional homegoing poet amiri baraka referred to black people as blues people the music we created to make the nation s most original art form contains within it a lament of our sadness and sojourn from the shores of west africa to the cane brake and cotton fields of the carolinas alabama mississippi and most of the south to the share cropping farms and the institution of jim crow to the battle for civil rights we have died for the right to be americans and we need the ability to mourn in our very own way so in this blog post i say and prayer and pour a libation for those black people who have departed in the wake of covid 19 whether as a result of the disease or the serendipity of a death during this time i imagine glorious choirs a rousing eulogy smartly dressed ushers funny anecdotes and yes a magnificent repast i declare a requiem for those blues people stay black smart 1 comment why covid 19 should scare black people posted on march 22 2020 by black smart by now you and everyone you know has had some experience with covid 19 also known as the coronavirus the outbreak was first documented in wu han china and because of its totalitarian government china could take draconian measures such as forced quarantines building a hospital in less than a month and requiring health care workers to work around the clock however in a democratic society individuals retain certain rights that governments are not supposed to violate today people are pointing fingers at various people and government officials concerning slow or limited actions most of the nation is asked to practice what we now know as social distancing unless we are first responders police officers fire fighters and health care practitioners we have been asked to self isolate and stay home our schools are closed our jobs ask us to work from home if possible and sadly some of us have lost our jobs we are washing our hands multiple times a day wiping down hard services with disinfectant wipes and shopping for hard to find staples like toilet paper hand sanitizer bleach and disinfectant wipes and sprays lots of myths are spreading because of this deadly virus one such myth is that young people can t catch it that s not true indeed 58 of those identified with the virus are in the 18 to 49 year old age range a variety of cures for the virus are circulating on the internet however as of this moment there are no cures for the virus our best course of action is to practice social distancing to help flatten the curve of the outbreak i wanted to write this blog because i am concerned about what covid 19 may mean for black people one of the myths we must confront is that black people can t catch the virus we know that s not true idris elba tested positive and several nba players rudy gobert and kevin durant have tested positive we are all at risk for contracting the virus but as black people we have a special risk our risk is tied to our limited access to quality health care we are less likely to receive a covid 19 test even if we present with symptoms over the last few days 3 black people have come across my news feed as victims who died from covid 19 we are more economically vulnerable so we are likely to risk going to work or taking on side hustles like shared ride gigs uber lyft and food delivery to make ends meet historically we say when white america catches a cold black america catches pneumonia thus white americans may be getting the flu but we are getting the coronavirus we are less likely to be able to homeschool our children and our children cannot afford to lose precious classroom time we have fewer childcare options and because our seniors are considered a vulnerable population we cannot rely on grandma and grand dad as childcare providers thus we may be tempted to leave children home alone so we can earn a living this can be very dangerous covid 19 is scary by any measure but it is especially scary for black folks we have to pay attention to the best science and hygiene practices to stay safe and healthy we will get through this but we can speed up the resolution by being smart in how we respond let s stay safe let s stay healthy let s stay alive stay black smart leave a comment post navigation older posts search recent posts was that justice don t let da rona get on ya i don t want to unify with evil but what will we tell the children stop using black children as an excuse to open your schools recent comments fixating on pandemic on stop using black children as a catherine hebert on but what will we tell the supporting 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images were found search recent posts was that justice don t let da rona get on ya i don t want to unify with evil but what will we tell the children stop using black children as an excuse to open your schools recent comments fixating on pandemic on stop using black children as a catherine hebert on but what will we tell the supporting our stude on but what will we tell the this week at global on but what will we tell the resources for respon on but what will we tell the archives april 2021 january 2021 december 2020 july 2020 june 2020 may 2020 april 2020 march 2020 january 2020 november 2019 october 2019 september 2019 august 2019 july 2019 june 2019 march 2019 january 2019 december 2018 october 2018 september 2018 august 2018 july 2018 may 2018 march 2018 february 2018 december 2017 october 2017 september 2017 august 2017 july 2017 june 2017 may 2017 march 2017 february 2017 january 2017 december 2016 november 2016 september 2016 august 2016 july 2016 april 2016 february 2016 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