(This article was originally published on The Untold Story Project and has been reprinted with permission. For more stories from The Untold Story Project, click here.)
by Darrel Riley
My family has memories of the history of slavery but the story of their arrival on the shores of America is lost in the mists of time. Their arrival in this country was unremarked, unrecorded, and is intertwined with the stories of the Native people whose blood also runs in my veins. Africans were carried as slaves to the shores of America chained together on the ships, walking in coffles supporting the weakest as they did the strongest because they were literally welded together. We know the stories of children separated from their loving families and forced to work in the cotton fields. We know the stories of the children that didn’t survive. My family experienced virulent racism in Little Rock, Arkansas when the United States federal troops were called out to escort my father’s friends to high school over an entire year while hatred and bigotry were inflamed by White politicians against children and young people wanting an education. We know the stories of childhood dreams destroyed and how that damage affects children for a lifetime.
Ensuring mother and child thrive in childbirth and beyond are among the highest on our list of American values. However, the United States remains only one of eight nations in the world with a rising maternal mortality rate — and black mothers are dying at 1.5 to two times the rate of white mothers in childbirth.
Sitting in the two hour-long joint meeting of the King County and Seattle City Councils, listening to them discuss housing and human services for the homeless was, well, nothing new. And perhaps my lack of motivation to write this piece is a testament to that. Nothing substantial was discussed. Nothing was surprising. No changes were made.
In May, King County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw took a trip to San Francisco to visit the city’sNavigation Center. The experimental homeless shelter, contains dorm-like sleeping quarters, showers and bathrooms, laundry facilities, counseling offices, and a 24-hour dining room. It also allows pets and provides them with designated dwelling spaces and food.Continue reading Seattle and King County Join Forces on Homelessness, but is it Just More of the Same?→
Words by Anne Althauser (Photos by Matt Mills McKnight)
It’s 7:15am on a Monday morning and I need to get downtown by 8am for a meeting at Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC). I’m weighing my transportation options as I check the weather: 35 minutes walking, 15 minutes by bike, or 25 minutes by bus. Overcast with a low chance of rain, I opt for a nice brisk walk on this Seattle fall morning. As I leave my apartment on Capitol Hill, within 2 blocks of my front door I pass the bus stop, a QFC grocery store, a Walgreen’s pharmacy, yoga and dance studies, and a handful of cafes and coffee shops. Just 5 blocks away I walk past Group Health Capitol Hill Campus, where if I needed, I could visit an emergency room, family doctor, pharmacy, or any one of the 30 or so specialists on campus. I continue walking.Continue reading Health Services Desert: West Hill’s Public Health Crisis→
In a clinic that serves a broadly diverse group of kids, a high proportion from low income backgrounds, I’ve learned a fair amount about the factors that influence health. Unfortunately, today’s healthcare system is off target. It is more prepared to treat illnesses once they’ve gotten really bad than it is prepared to catch illnesses in their earliest forms; let alone prevent illness. The bulk of our healthcare resources are directed far ‘downstream’ from the primary sources of health. As a result, our healthcare system basically spends more than any other country and has some of the worst health outcomes in the developed world.Continue reading Op-Ed: “The Best Start” We Can Provide Our Children→
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