How weathering affects Black people’s health

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Basically almost every health outcome, we do very poorly. And it’s not because there is anything inherently wrong with us, but there is something very wrong with the social systems that we live in.

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Gunshots weather the body a lot

Something tells me that my white privilege somehow directly affects black people’s health

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“Essentially, it’s this idea that dealing with the chronic stress of everyday racism causes a wear and tear on our bodies that prematurely ages us,” she says. “That actually makes us as Black folks susceptible to developing chronic diseases like heart disease, like autoimmune diseases, and also like fibroids.”

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Look, if White people ate as much Popeyes as black people, White people would have the same "weathering" problems.

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Gunshots weather the body a lot

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Weathering is a term coined by researcher Arline Geronimus

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This condition struck me beginning in '76 and finally coming to an emotional head in '85.

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it’s this idea that dealing with the chronic stress of everyday racism causes a wear and tear on our bodies that prematurely ages us

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this sounds a lot like the mommy-martyrs on IG and tiktok who have invented this concept of "emotional labor" and how they are forced to bear the "emotional labor" of their entire families, and this excuses all their bad and toxic behaviors. such horseshite.

anytime someone is using something completely ambiguous, nebulous, and unverifiable in order to justify actual, quantifiable, observable real world behaviors, you know they're completely full of shite and just making excuses.

I don't know about that. I find black folks seem to "weather" a lot less than white folks. There have been countless times I've been shocked in interactions with older black people to find out their real age. It's like 15-20 years older than they look. Hell, my child's pre-school teacher was a black woman. If you would have made me bet my house on guessing her age I would have said she was in her early 50's. WRONG! She was almost 70! With the energy of a 30 year old.

I hope I "weather" like that

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“Essentially, it’s this idea that dealing with the chronic stress of everyday racism causes a wear and tear on our bodies that prematurely ages us,” she says. “That actually makes us as Black folks susceptible to developing chronic diseases like heart disease, like autoimmune diseases, and also like fibroids.”

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All the stress of dealing with this made up racial bullshite on a daily basis is weathering the hell out of me.