When I was promoted and received tenure, I received a card from another Black woman professor that said, “The ancestors are moving mountains to see you rise.” As I made the news public, other Black professionals made reference to our ancestors, telling me things like “I’ve made the ancestors proud” or “I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams.” All of these sayings referred to my presence in spaces that were once, at best, not welcoming, and at worst, violent towards Black people, people who looked like me. These kind words, offered as congratulations, referred to the work our Black ancestors put in, the lives lost, the bodies imprisoned, beaten, punished, and hanged for daring to demand equality and humane treatment in America. As news of the U.S. Supreme Court essentially eviscerating the Voting Rights Act, a law that helped to ensure that Black (and other) citizens had government representation that looked like them, that reflected the racial make-up of neighborhoods, counties, and states, that protected them against voting discrimination based on race, I can’t help but reflect on the ancestors, the ancestors who moved mountains to protect our equal rights and all the things that come with voting protections.
This is not what they fought for.
After 1965’s “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama, where people marching were violently attacked for wanting civil rights for Black people, the Voting Rights Act was soon signed into law. Now that the Supreme Court has severely weakened the law, we are left to question what comes next for Black people’s voting power and our equality in the eyes of the law. Weakening the Voting Rights Act allows for gerrymandering, unequal government representation, and unequal government protections. It leaves Black people as unequal citizens in America, especially in cities like New Orleans, Louisiana, where Black people are not racial minorities, but make up most of the population. For many of us, we are not surprised. In many ways, we have never been equal in this country, but this new representation of our inequality is still dehumanizing.
Reflecting on how the Voting Rights Act will affect Black people, how it could affect the next election, and seeing so many Black people expressing their pain and sadness on social media has made me reflect on what these kinds of political events mean for Black people’s health. As we experience our citizenship being devalued in real time, it’s understandable that many Black people right now are not at their best. We are frustrated, saddened, and angry. As we know, political determinants of health, such as voting rights, living under stable governments, and protections from governments, can affect our mental and physical health. Racism is also a determinant of health. Racism in the form of race-related stress and trauma, whether experienced firsthand or witnessed, affects cardiovascular health, sleep health, mental health, our susceptibility to disease and illness and our ability to recover from illness. Political decisions affect our health, and when those political decisions seem to be a direct affront to Black people’s humanity and contributions to this country, these political decisions become a literal matter of life and death.
This is not what our ancestors wanted for us. They did not sacrifice their lives to move mountains, only for those in power to undo the work they accomplished with their blood and tears.
Black Bioethics forces us to view the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act through the lens of its implications for Black people’s health. This means considering how its ruling affects Black people’s health now, as we grapple with what it signals about our value as U.S. citizens and humans —namely, that our vote matters less, we matter less. That’s a hard pill to swallow. This also means we will have less say in decisions that disproportionately affect our health, like Medicaid and Medicare funding, where businesses like oil and gas facilities can be built, where hospitals and other institutions that have the resources we need for proper health are built, how many parks and sidewalks and bike lanes exist in our neighborhoods and a million more decisions that affect how healthy our environments are, thus how healthy we can expect to be. Black Bioethics also requires us to think about what this means for the next generation of Black people’s health.
This ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court will affect Black people’s health in negative ways. Its effects will be compounded by our already disproportionate access to proper health. There are many unknowns and uncertainties about Black people’s future political power, but this is not one of them. This decision is already affecting our mental and emotional health.
The bright side of things, if there is one, is that we have always had to save ourselves. It is in our DNA to work to protect our futures. We have always known that no one is coming to save us. I wish it were not this way, but it is. This will test us. This will test our resolve, our ability to form community, our willingness to rely on each other for strength, and our willingness to work for what we know we deserve.
One day, we will be the ancestors that future generations of Black people look back on. When they’re dealing with the fallout of this ruling on the Voting Rights Act, I question what “mountains” they will say we moved to see them rise.
The views expressed here do not represent the views of any organizations affiliated with the author.
Keisha Ray, PhD
