a lot more work that needs to be done in terms of racial justice. Everyone should have the right to both equal rights and better healthcare, especially the Black community.
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Serena Williams Fights For Her Life
Unfortunately, things continued to worsen for Serena Williams. She started to experience excruciating pain, right to the point where she was physically paralyzed. At some points, she couldn’t even breathe. Additionally, Williams experienced aching and heavy coughing, which eventually caused her C-section stitches to burst.
At that point, Williams knew that the difference between life and death came down to one aspect: speaking out. Refusing to stay quiet, she voiced her opinions loud and clear, until doctors had no choice but to listen. After four surgeries, doctors discovered a blood clot in her arteries and a hematoma in her stomach.
“Being heard and appropriately treated was the difference between life or death for me. I know those statistics would be different if the medical establishment listened to every Black woman’s experience,” Williams wrote in her essay.
The former tennis player nearly lost her life, all because of bad advice from a nurse. Fortunately, Serena Williams made the doctors listen to her in the end. While systematic racism exists in the healthcare system, that doesn’t mean our voice and our health is any less important than anyone else’s. Black America deserves the right to effective healthcare, too.