In healthcare, we do NOT really pay for medical services because of the cost-sharing mechanisms of healthcare insurance. If insurance companies and providers profit regardless of how patients are treated, we return to the system that continues to uphold and normalize health and healthcare disparities that run rampant in our communities. If we remove those equal protection clauses, we make it harder to seek legal justice when misdeeds arise. If we repeal the ACA, we lose vital funding for research and workforce diversification. I’m simply saying that I ain’t woke; I just can’t sleep!
In the powerful documentary, “I Am Not Your Negro,” James Baldwin through the voice of Samuel L. Jackson said, “In America, I was free only in battle, never free to rest, and he who finds no way to rest cannot long survive the battle.”
Somehow the term “woke” translates to this voluntary burst of energy that allows one to attack racist institutions and ideals. Truthfully, I wanted to rest like my White friends. I wanted to ignore the racist jokes. I wanted non-Black people to know why OJ “getting off” and Rodney King’s beating being taped both made the perversion of justice real for me. Social justice in medicine is just as important as the cowering criminal justice system’s grip on our community.
I tried to have a Saturday with no alarm and curtains closed, ready to detach from the “weekly” world until at least noon. But Eric Garner’s screams woke me up. I tried to go back to sleep. I just started to rest and Sandra Bland’s blinker kept flashing in my dark room. I covered my eyes with Trayvon’s hoodie but Alton kept asking me about CDs. I’m simply saying that I want to go to sleep…like our privileged friends. I want to think about the White House and not feel threatened.
I’m scared that we are going from “woke” to sleepwalking because justice is not coming. We’ve been sleep deprived. Sleep is a privilege of freedom. Fatigue is a consequence of oppression. Being woke doesn’t give us rest. I ain’t woke; I just can’t sleep!
Dr. Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins is a dynamic speaker, author, and scholar who serves as a Vice-Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. After obtaining his bachelor’s (NC Central University) and master’s (Florida A&M University) degrees focused in medical and legal history, Dr. Jenkins earned a Ph.D. in Sociology and Criminology & Law from the University of Florida. This two-time national journalism award winner examines the influence of race, racism, and law within medicine. High-powered corporate clients, such as McDonalds and ProQuest, have invited him as a keynote speaker for state and global events. Dr. Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins is a blue-collar academician who is one of America’s emerging voices.