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Thursday, May 28, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Color as a symptom of the coronavirus
As the spread of the coronavirus
exponentially increases by the day,
so does its toll with 1,678,843 total
cases and 99,031 deaths in the U.S.
alone. Despite making up only 13.4
percent of this nation’s population,
the Black population is seen to
be disproportionately victim of
more than 50% of reported cases,
33 percent of hospitalizations and
approximately 60 percent of the
deaths from the pandemic. Though
these reports are often deemed
related to health comorbidities
prevently
experienced
amongst
the Black community, the social
inequities experienced by race are
more to blame.
A recent study conducted by
Sutter Health Center for Health
Systems
Research
expressed
in
their
retrospective
cohort
analysis of COVID-19 that “African
Americans had 2.7 times the odds
of hospitalization compared with
IZZA AHMED-GHANI
MiC Staff Writer
GRAPHIC BY HIBAH CHUGHTAI
What’s in a name?
PRISHA GROVER
MiC Staff Writer
The video “Substitute Teacher”
by comedians Keegan-Michael Key
and Jordan Peele (often referred
to simply as Key and Peele) put a
hilarious spin on the very common
experience of students who have
had their names distorted by
their educational leaders. This
lighthearted video is a reference
to a much bigger issue in which
people have developed a certain
apathy when it comes to the
pronunciation of names which
appear unconventional to them.
I was raised being taught that
my name represented my ties to
my culture and role in the world
— a belief quite common among
Southeast Asian communities.
I decided to ask some of my
friends about their names, and
what having that name means.
Jeevin Amrit, pronounced Jee-
vin, means “the king of life”
Nishanth,
pronounced
Nih-
shaa-nth, means “peace at dawn”
Namratha, pronounced Numm-
ruh-tha,
means
“modesty
and
humility”
Amrita, pronounced Uh-mrith-
uh, means “nectar of immortality”
Inaya, pronounced In-ah-yah,
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non-Hispanic
white
patients.”
While findings indicated that age
(39 years+), sex (male), income
status (low-income) and insurance
status (Medicaid, self-pay, or no
insurnace) did increase the odds of
hopsitalization, race independently
influenced susceptibilty to hospital
admission because of COVID-19.
While the public seems to be
surprised by the health disparities
presented during this pandemic,
the health burden as a person of
color in America is anything but
unordinary. The most prevalent
health inequities experienced in
this country are perpetuated by
the systematic barriers that racism
has inspired. The color of your skin
ultimately warrants restrictions
in health security to attain this
country’s unalienable rights of life,
liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Race and ethnicity are crucially
related to access to care, resources
to treatment and health outcomes
defined in social determinants of
health.
Social determinants of health
express the everyday social and
physical conditions in which people
play, work and live. According to
HealthyPeople.gov, these factors
express how individual health
outcomes intersect with underlying
issues that stem from economic
stability, education, neighborhood
and built environment, health
and
healthcare
and
social
and
community
contexts.
It
standardizes the quality of living
people are able to achieve and
afford.
The
historically
racist
subjugations in the foundations
that this country was founded
upon leaves communities of color
disenfranchised to suffer worse
health outcomes.
The
health
outcomes
of
marginalized
communities
presenting at the top of COVID’s
food chain are driven by poverty
and food insecurity and bisected
by
housing.
The
majority
of
the
13.4
million
low-income
American families are racial or
ethnic minorities: Four million
(30 percent) are hispanic, 2.9
million (22 percent) are black,
and about 800,000 (6 percent)
are other nonwhites. According
to the CDC, these families make
up the majority of overpopulated
American
metropolitans
due
to
institutionalized
residential
housing segregation and often live
in multigenerational households
with poor access to resources to
drive quality of living. Racial and
ethnic minorities often live in
these conditions not as a means of
personal choice or financial means,
but by legislatively deliberate racial
de facto segregation and redlining
that affect residential housing
and school systems, especially
from the 1950s to 1970s. Though
many people are unaware of the
impacts legislative discrimination
has played in the history of this
country, it still plays a major part
of current standards of health and
implicitly influenced by private
discrimination
in
real
estate,
banks, clothing, food and more.
These households, in which the
majority of essential workers arise
from, are often subjected to food
swamps, poorer physical housing
and neighborhood infrastructures,
limited
occupational
mobility
and
opportunity,
and
higher
rates of stress. This then plays
into increased prevalence and
comorbidities
with
higher
rates of obesity, asthma rates,
hypertension, diabetes and other
health conditions due to poorer
housing conditions and access
to care. Therefore, the overall
risk of infection is not only more
prevalent in communities of color,
but these communities also have
pre-existing health disadvantages
that have suppressed their immune
systems. While the essential work
of racial and ethnic minorities
might currently carry the nation, it
is at the cost of their lives.
means “blessing from Allah”
During this conversation, many
of them mentioned that their names
are
often
mispronounced
and
although they make initial attempts
to correct those who falsify their
identity, they often fall complacent
as a result of the person’s unwilling
tongue. My name means “a blessing
from God,” and while the common
mispronunciation of it as Pree-
shah doesn’t change the meaning,
I’ve always felt that choosing to
pronounce my name incorrectly
disregards its origin. I was given
my name because my parents
struggled to have kids for several
years after having my older brother
and suffered many complications
throughout their pregnancy with
me, thus when I was born, they felt
that God had blessed them. The
Sanskrit word “Prisha” is meant
to give hope and warmth, and the
way I pronounce it is the way my
parents gave it to me. As my friend
Jeevin says, “There’s a certain pride
that you carry when you know your
name has such a powerful meaning
… it is a reminder of my roots.”
Followers of Hinduism will
often name their children after
important figures in Hindu epics.
For example, the name Arjun is the
name of one of the heroes of the
Mahabharata and one of the five
Pandava brothers. He is said to be a
symbol of clarity, loyalty and often
won the favor of the gods. When
someone names their child Arjun,
they are paying respect to his
namesake and hoping their child
will be a testament to Arjun’s strong
character. This is no different than
someone naming their child after
the Angel Gabriel or the Prophet
Muhammad.
Despite these sacred meanings,
so
many
people
resort
to
pronunciations
or
nicknames
which are easier for the American
tongue to pronounce. This is not
about shortening one’s name just
to a cute friendly nickname, but
is about the obligation some feel
to change what they are called in
an act of complacency for other’s
lack of effort. An example of
this is people named “Prathik”
(pronounced Prah-theek) going by
the name “Peter.”
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