That is correct on so many levels. Growing up, I thought many people could read. Working at Wal-Mart proved me wrong. I've run into a lot of people that can't read at all. I didn't realize so many people were illiterate where I live.
Same here. It is bad, and I honestly am not sure what is behind this but I keep encouraging my younger siblings and family to stay up on their reading because in all truth I think Covid did a number on the people here.. quite frankly it is scary.. when I notice it up here, so I can imagine how much worse it would be elsewhere.
I used to go to school very briefly in VA just before I came back a month later to NY and back then I was about to go to 6th grade but the state's curriculum was 3 years behind NY, and this was the case for the new school for gifted kids that my grandparents had me interviewed at in VA. They didn't have anything down there at my level, unless I was over in the wealthier areas where congressmen send their kids to school, but that wasn't going to happen as my grandparents were retired then. Quite frankly, although I know I am smart, I don't think I am exceptional by any means.. I just think it is the benefit being of public school..
But even up here, where NY is supposed to be one of the most educated states in the country.. (NYC's bureaucratic b.s. is why our scores arent as high as Massachussetts or Colorado who revamped theirs after legalizing weed, but I am hoping that NY does the same, but the super red areas up here are just as stuck as the red areas in the South.) Even still, you still notice up here, and I am not sure if things are advantageous for me because I am smart or because I am from NYC where I have to be both that and fast, but up here, I feel like an alien that just landed here from another planet, and although the slower pace up here is nice, it is also unnerving how many people just aren't informed on a lot of basic things.
When we lived in NYC we were well aware the impact of environmental racism, and the impact it will have on our health in the future and yet, I mean our ancestors had to deal with this too so the knowledge, much like the racial politics of everything and how they all link up here, it was like they never knew about the intersectionality of both or why it was important or how it impacted our health. We have to stay cognizant of these issues because it affected us, but the White people up here living in the same conditions thinking it is normal is just scary.
I am honestly beginning to wonder if White people up here were intentionally misinformed on a lot of things, much like they are/were with even racial politics, that people like me had NO CHOICE but to stay abreast on just for basic survival in the city.. I have noticed this with my Drs. up here.. they were just completely shocked that we were living in those conditions, and they had no idea the extensive impact it had on our health, even if they knew that environmental issues like this would be driving a massive wave of health issues in the future, but they believed that is years away.
Yet, only the people my shade and darker knew what I was talking about because as soon as I mentioned "The Great Migration" and how we had limited choices on where to live once we got here, only they knew what I was talking about because their ancestors did it too. My family had to live in these places because we weren't allowed to live anywhere else even though we weren't poor (hence the racial stereotype of living in the projects while having a luxury vehicle.. like in rap videos that many White people treat like a documentary into our lives and culture.)
But like I said, we had no choice, and even in our case, it was still privilege because Covid made my husband's job permenantly remote which was why and how we moved.. we get high NY pay and can live anywhere cheaply.. so we moved north and to a "White Flight" neighborhood no less.. lol) And although up here, the White people do understand the issues with mold, because they have it too, it is seen as an
annoyance rather than a FUCKING
danger. Seriously, 7/10 houses we saw up here had either mold or water issues that onky guranteed mold in the future, that were often dismissed by the realtor as normal, when my own family had to walk them for us because I was allergic and my husband was near-death both times he went to the hospital.
But the disconnect, is where they don't understand that our choices are often WORSE than were we lived. So when they asked why we didn't move, I told them we did, 300+ miles North.. since then, we've dropped at least 80lbs between us and with little effort.. and I am very worried because I am a woman and it is notoriously difficult to lose weight especially at my age.. and yet, YTD, I've dropped 40+ just from going to the Dr. appointments alone. I plan on getting new bloodwork just to calm my anxiety.. but I have ever dropped weight so fast in my life even when younger and that scares me.
We were THAT sick, and the fact that people just didn't know it is scary.. especially since many live in these same conditions too and they just normalized it. And I am sure that Covid made that worse but it is good to be informed and stay informed, and sharing what you know with others is a good thing.
I try to do that everywhere I go because I feel it is the right thing to do, but in my culture it is believed that each of us has a duty to share the knowledge with another (each one, teach one). But ignorance is indeed dangerous and this is why I don't trust anyone that encourages the downplaying of being informed or the banning of knowledge itself. There is no telling how many eyes we've opened since we have been here, and to know that Covid exacerbated things up here where people's memories are concerned is even worse. I have seen this with my own family who all had Covid except my husband and I, whom they thought we were being paranoid about with our extreme isolation.. and into our moldy ass apartment no less.
Anyway, sorry for the long digression, but I cannot stress enough the importance of staying informed on everything even if those around you think you are uncool for doing so. At the very least, they will end up looking to you for info on why things are bad when they start paying attention too. I did the same with the Trump supporters in my family, so please keep staying the course.
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