HEALTH EQUITY
Given the necessity of healthcare for everyone, health equity is one of our country’s most pressing social justice struggles. The ACSJL made a huge impact on the campus and the community in the areas of health equity. By collaborating with the Center for Civic Engagement, a Community and Global Health concentration was established.
In addition, numerous ACSJL regional fellows focused on this area. One started a diaper bank for low-income families, which continues to thrive today, and two regional fellows transformed their medical school by introducing courses on racism and the social determinants of health. Because of their work and the relationships they developed during their fellowship, medical students at Western Michigan School of Medicine were culturally equipped to create COVID pop-up clinics in Black, Brown, and Indigenous neighborhoods in the region.
Self-care and mental health were ongoing focuses of the ACSJL, especially given the specific needs of social justice organizers, many of whom are grappling with how to take care of themselves in the face of increased police violence as well as violent repression against resistors. As you will see below, our attention to this area has increased the education and capacity of faculty, students, and community in this area in myriad ways.
BANNER IMAGE: SONIA BAEZ-HERNANDEZ
ACSJL secured renowned epidemiologist David Addiss to teach K College’s first global health course as an ACSJL visiting fellow. Below, he speaks on Praxis Center’s coverage of global health.
“I was one of the first fellows of the Arcus Center in 2011. I look forward to receiving and reading each newsletter. Congratulations on such a fine publication! Two articles in your recent issue, the interview with William Simmons on joy and human rights, and the article on self-care by Gilary Massa, were especially meaningful and powerful for me. I am currently working to build a Focus Area on Compassion and Ethics (FACE) at the Task Force for Global Health, affiliated with Emory University in Atlanta. We are trying to address issues of human rights, equity, and (lack of) self-care in global health. Far too often, as Simmons eloquently notes, we live in our heads, isolated from our inner lives, and separated from our emotions. This impoverishes us both as individuals and as organizations. These two articles offer encouragement and a fresh perspective. “
— David Addiss, MD, MPH
Dr. Regina Stevens-Truss created a new sophomore seminar course Infection: Global Health and Social Justice as part of her faculty fellowship.
Jax Gardner established a diaper bank for families in need in Kalamazoo as part of their staff fellowship in Fall 2015. To date, St. Lukes Diaper Bank continues to be an important community resource.
In Kalamazoo, Black infants are 4.5 times more likely to die than white infants. Regional fellow Fernando Ospina worked with Cradle Kalamazoo to develop an organizing approach focused on systemic race-conscious interventions.
Kama Tai Mitchell and Elisheva Wolff’s regional fellowship created Movement for the Movement. A collaborative healing justice project focused on accessible, antiracist, and critically culturally competent movement and healing arts.
Western Michigan University School of Medicine, based in Kalamazoo, now offers an elective course in the social determinants of health and offers regular training on racial biases in medicine.
These changes are the result of the ACSJL regional fellowships of medical students Gina Bravata K’12 and Ryan D’Mello K’14. According to D’Mello, their fellowship also provided the basis for ongoing relationships with Indigenous and Latinx communities that would not have been possible without the ACSJL. These relationships and the courses and training now offered, made their cohorts able and willing to do COVID pop-up clinics in Kalamazoo’s underserved neighborhoods.
The ACSJL Social Justice Leadership Fund-supported student zine: Resist Psychic Death.
From 2011—2015 editors articulated a feminist consciousness for women and men of color who share their commitment to nurturing and sustaining one another through magnifying the truths—joyful, painful, or trite—that shape and inform their lives. They described RPD as an invaluable contribution to the campus dialogue on feminism and racism and psychic health.
Icarus Project Campus Events
Icarus Project was a finalist in the 2015 Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership. They were invited back numerous times to engage our campus through workshops on mental healthcare for marginalized members of our communities and social justice activists.
Dr. Michelle Morse, recently named as New York City’s Deputy Commissioner for the Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness (CHECW) and the agency’s first-ever Chief Medical Officer and former deputy chief medical officer of world renown Partners in Health, served as Praxis Center’s contributing editor for Global Health. She did this after attending the Science and Social Justice Think Tank in 2016.
Dr. Linda Murray, president emeritus of the American Public Health Association and internationally known public health leader, served on the ACSJL Global Advisory Board and received an honorary doctorate from Kalamazoo College.
What People are Saying
“Things like confidence, self-care and vulnerability are qualities I am still working on as an individual post-grad. ACSJL set positive examples of what that could look like for me.”
“I learned how to make underground spaces for survivors of color. I learned about self care and boundaries. Transformative healing spaces really impacted me as people I knew were harming each other in various ways”
“It made it a space where I could come to and actively speak about my trauma and struggles in a safe space on campus. This is one of the reasons I was able to graduate from Kzoo.”
“As an acupuncturist, I especially appreciate the writing on healthcare policy and the limits of our current model.”
“I have participated in growth/healing similar to this method but on a personal basis and as a massage therapist—I love the idea of it being used in the justice system. This made me sad—it made me feel for people who aren't given the tools to grow. Foundational knowledge—sufficient to encourage students to engage in movement. Knowledge is integral to action.”