Racism is a Pandemic Too: White Coats for Black Lives

Black people are fighting for their lives in two pandemics - coronavirus AND racism. #WhiteCoatsForBlackLives #BlackLivesMatter #BlackMamasMatter

The last two weeks have been unbelievably heartbreaking and overwhelming for us all. This is a critical moment in our history as a country.

For the new followers, thanks for following and diversifying the content of your feed.

I am a Black woman, wife, mother, and Maternal-Fetal Medicine fellow in North Carolina. I am a doctor who takes care of women with pregnancy complications.

I am also a physician activist. My research focus is Black maternal health and ending the unacceptable disparities (a product of racism) that devastate Black families.

My content is the intersection of all of my identities and has been from the day I wrote my first blog post August 2010. I have always sought to use my platform to inspire others to follow their dreams - there weren’t many Black mother physicians in social media and I knew from experience that “you can’t be what you can’t see”.

For anyone who finds themself here looking for direction on how to be a part of the change, I will share with you what I shared this past weekend on a zoom panel about race:

Everyone’s platform is not going to be Instagram. It may not be videos on YouTube. It may not be giving speeches or presenting research, but we all have a platform.

Our platform is our sphere of influence. It is your home, your school, your job, your church group, and your vote.

It is more critical than ever for you to use your voice. Speak up when you see something that isn’t right. Speak up when you see that someone is mistreated.

It is this country’s culture of silence and indifference after witnessed injustice over generations that has gotten us here.

It is going to take more than thoughts, prayers, and well-meaning texts to your Black friends to get us out.

Please step up, and get ready for the journey because we are just getting started. #blacklivesmatter #blackdoctorsmatter #whitecoatsforblacklives

Racism is a Pandemic Too

 

Not OK.

I am not OK.

As a mother of two Black children, I think about our race and how we are perceived in the world on a daily basis. As the wife of a Black man, I think of it when he leaves the house. As one of a handful of Black doctors in our department, I think of it on a daily basis at work.

Weeks like these knock the wind out of you, because you know that you, and the people you love, have targets on their backs every single day.

You can’t “move to a different neighborhood” your way out of it. 

You can’t “dress or talk a certain way” your way out of it. 

You can’t “have a medical doctorate” your way out of it.

This pandemic has brought out the best and the worst in our country. For my people, it has brought the disproportionate loss of jobs, disproportionate loss of life, and further widens the chasm of resources that should be BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS.

If you are not BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color), we need you to step up. I’m tired of tearfully writing these damn captions.

We need you to fight too. Thank you to all of the call to action posts, the up standers, the acknowledgement of privilege and accountability. Love to see it, but your work is not done.

Please educate yourself on the history of race in our country. How racism has, and continues to infiltrate our society. How is it killing our mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters. #AhmaudArbery #BreonnaTaylor #GeorgeFloyd

The inhumane and disgusting murder of George Floyd is when racism screams in our faces, but every day, you can see its influences - it’s public education funding from property taxes, it’s hiring discrimination, it’s housing discrimination, it’s colorblindness, it’s white silence.

The palpable silence of the privileged in times of overt racism and racial crisis in our country, is deafening. I implore all of those who call me a friend, to not be silent.

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends” - MLK

Instagram accounts to follow if you are looking for ways to educate yourself and join the fight: 

@Rachel.Cargle
@ibramxk
@TheConsciousKid
@GoodGoodGoodCo
@Parentingispolitical

Stay at Home Month 3: May

Mother's Day, doggy birthday party, telemedicine, more outside time {including making the backyard my most favorite spot}, more video calls, more carryout, science experiments, last month of 1st and 5th grade distance learning, and more Johnson kids making the best out of this crazy time. 

Stay at Home Month 2: April

Birthdays, Resurrection Sunday, more distance learning, more working {inside and outside of the hospital for Mommy}, a weird Spring Break, stopping to smell the roses, and more adjusting to our new normal. 

Oh! And 10 years of marriage!

View this post on Instagram

I’ve been starting a lot posts this month with “wasn’t how we planned to spend...” but I can honestly say I always planned to spend our 10 year anniversary this way. . With you. . No matter what life has brought us, thanks for being the constant over the last 10 years. . Here’s to ♾ more my love. 🥂

A post shared by Jasmine Johnson,MD |MFM Fellow (@mrsmommymd) on Apr 16, 2020 at 8:27am PDT

Black Maternal Health Week 2020

It’s #BlackMaternalHealthWeek and I know that today, more than ever, we are inundated with terrible statistics and bad news, but that doesn’t change the fact that we all have a part to play in ending health disparities for all.

One way to start is to get yourself educated on why, for Black women, having a baby in the United States is more deadly than in any other developed nation.

You don’t have to be on the front lines of the clinic or a full time researcher to make a difference.

You can become an ally. You can use your voice to educate others on how implicit bias and structural racism have contributed to this disparity for hundreds of years - impacting the health of generations. Don’t believe me? Just look at the disparities related to #Covid19.

This problem didn’t appear overnight, so it’s going to take persistent, intentional, and complex efforts to reverse it - just take a look at this poignant visual from a paper on the association between mass incarceration and preterm birth rates by Dr. Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson (@dr.shawnita). “Free”?! ‪#MicDrop‬ (I HIGHLY recommend you read her full manuscript, which can be easily found on her twitter page @Dr_S_Jefferson)

So, go follow a new account that is leading the charge (or two, or three) this week.

Trust me you can only be inspired by these change-makers:

@blackmamasmatter

@4kira4moms

@birthequity

@nationalblackdoulas just to name a few...

Elevate their work. Share one of their posts. Raise awareness.

Help us in ending the disparities in Black maternal health. #RacismNOTRace #BMHW20