Sam Simmons

Well,

Okay.

The word disparity has always been interesting because yes, there are disparities and they've been there, but that's just the way it's been.

But the other piece is the other side.

I'd rather deal with the other side.

The fact that even if I have healthcare, I don't use it.

You know,

So there's a lot more folks who have healthcare, certainly men, who don't ever use it.

Okay?

And so when you talk about things that add to disparities, when you have over 300 years of being conditioned to believe that you're less than, why would I use it?

If you have over 300 years of, okay, how do I figure out how to fit

my manhood in this society that says I'm less than a man depending on who else is in the room, right?

So when you talk about the trauma, not dealing with the trauma actually contributes to those disparities because the trauma will eat you from the inside out when you don't even realize it.

And then you are a, I can, you know, I often say I can talk about being a black man a lot easier than talking about being some other man.

And one of the things about being black in America, still trying to figure out historically, how do I fit?

And how do I get defined as being significant other than being seen as a problem?

When you talk about how do we add to the disparity or make the trauma worse is when, like, for example, is if I'm deemed...

uh the problem and you treat me like a problem right what am i what am i supposed to what am i supposed to do right and then if i did need help if you don't treat me like a problem i'm not coming to you for help so we have these layers of that add to disparities and then when then the other piece is is like if i only use punitive measures for certain groups of people

Okay, we got the data.

If I only use punitive responses to black men and the average white person don't have to deal with me.