Imagine for a moment that youre a very silly 22-year-old driving through Florida sometime around 2009.
Maybe the windows are down.
Maybe the music is blaring.
Loveis Wise
Maybe youre singing off-key.
Youre a black woman driving alone in the middle of the night.
The police killing ofMichael Brownthat thrust Black Lives Matter into the national spotlight hadnt happened yet.
You know how dangerous this can be.
The police officer walks away.
After what feels like an eternity, he returns.
For the love of God, he hisses, handing you back your information.
You really need to slow down.
You didnt get a ticket.
The officer leaves, but your heart wont stop racing, and your muscles dont relax.
Youre still shaking, and your breathing doesnt slow.
This, in a nutshell, is weathering.
Any kind of long-term stress can affect your body.
Stress isyour bodys natural responseto perceived danger.
Its actually meant to be helpful.
Your heart starts racing, and you start breathing faster, Dr. Crear-Perry says.
That’s a natural physiological response to the stress of being a black person in America.
(Tell me something I dont know, you say.)
It can lead to migraines, tension headaches, and backaches.
Then theres how youdealwith this stress.
Chronic stress is unhealthy for the average person, but these symptoms can be even more worrisome forpregnant people.
Those kinds of poor birth outcomes were the impetus for Geronimuss weathering research.
When I actually studied it, I began to see I was wrong, Geronimus says.
What Geronimus foundwas that birth outcomesworsenedamong black moms as they aged.
The same wasnt true for the white moms she studied.
Oppressed groups are essentially put between a rock and a hard place, Geronimus says.
Since first publishing her theory on weathering, Geronimus has conducted more research to see how it holds up.
One prime question in weathering research is how discrimination can lead to tangible negative health outcomes.
Because of that, Geronimus and her team theorized that telomere lengths could be an indicator of weathering.
Various research points to racial disparities that cant be fully attributed to things like differences in income level.
As an example, Aina cites theSojourner Syndrome frameworkdeveloped by anthropologistLeith Mullings, Ph.D.
This brings us to the crux of our exploration: weathering andblack maternal mortality.
Weathering seems to be an inextricable part of black maternal mortality.
Pregnancy offers a compelling opportunity to study weathering in a concrete way.
The two are often terribly and closely connected.
Reading all of this probably felt demoralizing.
Reporting it definitely did.
So what can you do with this information as a black person?
Its a constant mode of worrying, Dr. Crear-Perry says.
So maybe they need to stop making us worry so much.
Until then,self-careon its own isn’t going to cut it.
If you’re black and pregnant, educate yourself about theconditions and complicationsyou’re more likely to face.
Findingsolidarity and communitycan be helpful in the fight against weathering for pregnant and nonpregnant people alike.
it’s possible for you to also take that next [step].
That is wherelocal organizationswithin our Alliance come into play, she says.
Black people deserve support for the enormous stresses of everyday life in a racist society.
For now, thats just a fantasy.
At the very least, know that Im dreaming it right along with you.
