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together. Go to www .businessoflifecc .com. Welcome
back to Questions You Didn't Ask. I'm Nyesha
Frey, and this is the fourth and final episode
of No Health, No Wealth, Economic Justice and
Health Equity. Over the past episodes, we've
explored powerful connections between money and
health. And today we bring it all together. Let's
get back to the conversation. I agree, Keisha.
You know, I reflect on that just in terms of,
you know, I'm privileged. to sit on a small but
mighty Black Family Foundation board. And we
do a lot with a little. And we make real impacts
in the community and to build that social capital
that you were talking about and that helps to
build generational wealth in regard to the relationships,
the trust, the advocacy, the persistence and
consistence. innovation and creativity. And the
fact that it is inspired by the life of a Black
man and his family and siblings chose to carry
on. He died young and carry on his legacy through
a foundation that would help to invest into the
community that helped to nurture him and invest
into the community that is rural, that is poor,
that is Black. But yet it yielded. this exceptional
young Black man whose life got cut short, right?
And so we continue to invest back into that community
for us, by us, about us, and in partnership with
others, right? So to your point about, you know,
having a focus, right, that might be focused
on Black people, but you still attract and attain
and retain a wider audience that can find that
to be approachable. I mean, you can be unapologetically
Black, right? You can. So it's got to be good.
That part. Yeah, it's got to be good. It's got
to be good. And we talked about something. Rod,
let me know. You good? Yeah, I'm watching y 'all
do that magic thing. Okay, okay, okay. We watching
you too, brother. Y 'all got y 'all own magic.
We got to get y 'all going. You got your joy
going on. That's right. You're a Black man, Joy.
I love it. So I'm going to turn this a little
bit back to a conversation that you started,
Keisha, in regard to Black women exiting the
workforce, right? And so we talked about the
difference between, you know, I can't take it
no more. I got to do something else because this
ain't it, right? Versus being forced out. And
so I want to talk about this trend of layoffs.
And, you know, I've seen it on so many levels.
We've talked about the challenges that even people
who have degrees, that have so -called good jobs,
right, we have in regard to health and health
care, right? But we also know that these are
some of the same people that are targeted for
layoffs. And in my discussions, With a variety
of exceptionally skilled, talented, educated
Black people, some of what has come up, especially
in the conversation around tech industry and
how they use layoffs, is that sometimes they
use layoffs to help with their balance sheet,
stock market performance, satisfy different segments
of their board or investors. I would like to
hear, Farah, maybe some reflection from you about
how does this trend of layoffs and what we now
call restructuring, right? They also use that
word restructuring, by corporations. Can we talk
about how this uniquely tends to affect marginalized
and minoritized workers and entrepreneurs, or
mainly just workers, because we're talking about
layoffs and restructuring, but even entrepreneurs?
I mean, I've seen it with contracts, right? You've
got contracts through a corporation. They're
restructuring. They're, you know, lost a whole
wad of money from NIH or Department of Education.
And now as a contractor, they pulled your money.
Now, there might be some differences in terms
of being an employee and getting a severance.
You know, can we just lean into that a little
bit more and what we're seeing going on around
us? So I think it's important that we always
have economic mobility. I was raised in an environment
where we all had a hustle, right? If it was Amway,
cutting hair, you know, Shackley products, multi
-level marketing, fixing cars, doing hair. I
mean, we can do this, right? Selling t -shirts,
cooking pies. selling, you know, right. Records
out the back of the trunk, washing cars, mowing
lawns. I guess I'm trying to say, you know, I
know people that I know professional people that
have, you know, other second, secondary jobs,
if I may say so. I think it's always important
to have economic mobility. And when you don't
have economic mobility, you are subject to the
market environment, which could put you in a
layoff space. And typically they start with lowest.
value employees or lowest. And we really have
to be mindful and concerned with AI coming in
on this impact to really, you know, job repurposing
going from human to computers and our ability
to really reposition our skill sets to lead those
computers. or to do something that's like you're
not going to ai a plumber right and i'm not going
to ai a barber and i'm not going to ai my real
estate agent i mean you know certain things you're
not going to ai so i think it's important to
recognize that markets have ebbs and flows but
technology is moving at a vicious rapid pace
that makes things happen really quickly and impact
the families and lives of people who are at the
bottom of the list and i'm not talking about
people that are necessarily at the bottom i'm
talking about these six well you may not be replaced
by ai but with ai assistance you may not companies
may not need to have as many people because they
can be assisted by ai so we see this in the doctor's
office where They don't need to have a transcriber
or a scribe in there because they're using AI
to help them with their notes and to document.
So instead of needing more doctors or more scribes
to help with the record keeping, we don't need
to have as many physicians to see the same number
of patients. We don't need as much support staff.
in order to make sure that we're meeting all
the regulations. So it's not even a matter of
completely being replaced. At this point, it's
the fact that AI is providing so much support
that they'll need less of the people. So it still
is taking away jobs in that area as well. And
you're right. And then when I say the bottom
of the pit, it's not the bottom realm of the
economy. I mean, it's the bottom of every...
You're hearing, your perception is saying the
bottom of the income stratosphere. I'm saying
the lowest on the stratosphere from zero to 50,
the lowest on the stratosphere from 100 to 50,
the lowest on the stratosphere from 200 to 100.
It's the ones at the lowest part of that salary
when they start doing reduction that they start.
Oh, look, I'll even say with real estate, right?
We've been relying on AI for a long time. We've
just been calling it an algorithm. So when we
talk about whether we're using the websites to
look at what real estate is available to purchase,
even as we have our conversations with agents,
you know, we're not going, I'm an agent myself.
It's not like back in the day when you went to
a real estate agent. And they had a big old binder
with pictures of houses that you were going through.
And then they put things out for you. Now you
come in ready. Like I've looked at three houses.
These are the ones I want to look at. Make that
happen. They're like a facilitator. So it takes
less time, right? So we've been relying, whether
it's Siri or Alexa, any of these, we've been
relying on AI. It's just, it's much more in front.
It's not just a convenience. Like, oh, let me
find some like silly fact. We're saying the quiet
part out loud. Exactly, exactly. And so that's
definitely the difference. And the schedulers,
and like I said, even the higher levels where
AI, we've seen this in the computer industry
and the tech industry, where it's like, well,
with our AI and algorithms, yes, we still need
a human, but we don't need quite as many humans.
And that... disposable factor usually are the
most marginalized people in the room. That's
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the conversation going so i've got a couple more
questions i know that we are coming really close
to the end what are some of the ripple effects
of These layoffs, restructuring, shifts, market
ebbs and flows. What are some of the ripple effects
on people's health as a result of that? I'm thinking
about folks who are 20 years into a career, inching
toward retirement. But not quite close enough
to get the benefits. That part. Well, that's
why that insurance being tied to employment.
Right. And if you you don't quite qualify for
Medicaid and that's where folks who are working
class, well, people who are working class but
think they're middle class are vulnerable. Right.
Those are the folks that are vulnerable because
you're you make too much money to qualify for
Medicaid, but not enough money that you can just,
you know, we can dip into a savings so that you
can can just pay things out of pocket. Right.
You know, that's where the unemployment really
takes a toll. And then on top of that, what we
haven't discussed is, you know, when black people
make more money, we also are usually subsidizing
other family members. Right. So it's not just
your own household. It's the money that is going
out to fill in the gaps that the government policies
are leaving behind. Right. So there's that ripple
effect. So it affects your health. Like you may
be paying for another family member's medicine
or their co -pays. And then now you don't have
that money. That means that not only are you
not paying for yourself, you're not paying for
that other family member's needs as well. Yeah.
And then you've got the mental health issue of
self -esteem. A lot of people, their jobs is
who they are. And so if I'm no longer working
for a big healthcare company in this community,
that I'm no longer who I think I am, right? That
creates all kinds of systematic things that could
happen bad inside the house, right? And which
will create things that could happen that comes
out exterior to houses breaking up, houses being
sold. I mean, I can go on and on, but I think
the oppression, of losing your job when it is
key to your lifestyle can provide a real oppression.
And if you have no faith and no economic mobility
and lack of confidence, depression sits in and
depression manifests itself in ways that is unhealthy
for your physical body. And it can actually come
out and hurt other people's physical body by
the way you treat them and it manifests yourself.
And we're not even talking around things like
suicide, right? Exactly. No, absolutely. And
that's a big part of the conversation that we
also need to have is how we can reframe your
experience, right? So it may be that the job
that you are in or that you were in It's no longer
there. And you can mourn that briefly. But when
people talk about pivot, you know, you got to
pivot. It doesn't mean that you have to lose
your purpose or lose your soul. It doesn't mean
that you're a sellout. It just means that you
have to repackage yourself in a way so that you
can pay the bills. And there is no shame in that.
Oftentimes, what we don't talk about, especially
in my area, you know, I look at racism and health,
racism and education. I look at, you know, gender.
I look at Black women. Basically, all my favorite
words are banned by the federal government. And
so I'm always thinking about, well, what can
I compromise on and what are the non -negotiables
so that I can. make sure that I am still serving
the people who need it the most and that I'm
also true to myself. And it is, you know, more
difficult at different times, but I've been here
before this. There's nothing new under the sun.
You know, we've been here and. We've had to be
self -sufficient and make a way and create partnerships.
It may be new to some of the younger folks, especially
people who graduated college in the last five
years, and they got used to having open conversations
about racism and systems. And I remember talking
about the relationship between racism and health
was more taboo. Like, you're never going to get
funded if you say that. You might be able to
say perceived discrimination in health. Like,
those, maybe. You know, so I know what that is
and I know what it was like where even then you
could just have to say experiences, not even
perceived. So I know the way that we have to
learn from our elders, the folks more senior
than us. How did you do it before so that we
can learn from those mistakes and learn from
their success so that we can move forward? And
is it even worth fighting for? Right. I got plenty
of folks leaving academia, not just leaving the
corporate structure, but leaving academia and
saying, you know what? I can build something
better on my own. That's okay. Before you fight
to get back in a system that didn't work for
you, like, is this really what you want? Or is
it to make sure it's not just your ego? To figure
out ways to use this as a time to pivot, to reflect,
to move forward. And also, Think of the long
term. So the decisions that you make today, you
have to live with five years from now. You know,
so those are also the things that you have to
consider in this moment for your own mental health.
And sometimes, you know, you have to make decisions
that you're not happy about or you may not even
be proud about. But this is the situation you're
in. If you know why you're making it and for
how long. You work it on that. But if you live
in a space of shame, it's going to spiral you.
You are going to spiral into depression and you're
going to have to, you know, if you know why,
you know where I'm doing this in order to get
that. I may have to compromise on this, but I'm
still able to hold on to this other very important.
Like these are the things that we have to talk
about more openly so that it's not in secret.
It's not in shame. And so that we can share our
resources and figure out, do we just need to
build something new? Well, I love where you're
coming from. Go ahead, Farad. No, I was snapping
fingers. She right. All that stuff is a part
of, you know. We want to talk about physical
health, but I think we need to really deal with
this mental health. It's important because that
also determines if you can be successful in your
economic space. It also helps if you're employable.
Absolutely. If you are friendly enough to run
a business. Right. So all the characteristics
of skill sets. Know yourself well enough to know
that you're not a people person. That means you
need to partner with the people person. Amen.
I don't like networking. I know this about myself.
I got friends that can work a room. I want to
go home. So, you know, know who is the appropriate
partner and don't. Don't expect them to be you.
Expect them to be them and work on everybody's
strengths. Amen. So before we leave, we always
leave on a high note. I want you to tell me something
new, exciting, innovative that either you're
working on or that is inspiring you that you
would like to share with other people. The things
that make me positive is that here are the thing
that actually I can't say I can't point to a
specific project because I'm not going to lie
to you. But what I can say is that I do have
a lot of hope. Like my hope is still is still
there. My hope, my faith. Because I know that
other people in my own families, in my communities
have survived much more creative. well thought
out plans than the things that I am facing with
less resources. And so that's what keeps me going
is that my faith, my hope, and my knowledge that
this is not forever. It may be longer than what
I would like, but that's what keeps me going.
And I try to remind the people I'm around that
they have options. Yeah, I got to tell you, for
me, it's the thing I'm working on is I've got
four kids. It's just trying to keep them going.
Right. I mean, for them to be the next generation.
And I've got parents and I'm truly the sandwich
generation child. And being able to take the
baton from the previous generation and pass it
forward to the next generation with the hope
that they will be able to. face the current condition
and overcome them, much like the past, right?
So being mindful that the future is brighter
than the past and that we're going to have to
create the new future in teaching skill sets.
And I'm going to take your comment. It's like
we were blessed to have trailblazers like Dr.
Sandy Darity before us. And then we get a chance,
us three, to be settlers, right? Because they've
already went through the trees, carved it down,
put a road. So now we riding on the road like
it was there, but they went through it. And now
that we're in an environment where people are
tearing down what we built as settlers, we're
going to have to now become, as you say, Keisha,
turn around to our elders and say, We need to
build the next spaceship because to build the
next something, right? And your energy, your
entrepreneurialism, your excitement, your fortitude,
your perseverance that you had, I may not have
had that as conditioned in me as it was in you.
So I need to take lessons from you so I can take
that. and build it on my ingenuity to be ready
for the next generations to succeed. So I've
been spending a lot of my time trying to be inspirational
to my children and trying to be also very inspirational
to others, reminding them that I need them to
be better and not to be discouraged, because
I think that's the devil's greatest tool. It's
discouragement. People think it's money and jealousy.
I'm like, nah, it's discouragement. Because once
you're discouraged, all that other stuff happens.
So it's going to be important as a community
that we become more collective and selfless.
And our selflessness will also help, I think,
others to want to ally, be allies with us because
they see that we are building. We're not, you
know, the devil is roaring around like a lion
trying to devour. We got to make it. Are we going
to be eaten? Or are we going to say, okay, devil,
let's go because I'm ready, right? And so I don't
know. I think right now we need to be preparing
the next generation to be superheroes because
they're going to have work to do. Yes, deep breath,
deep breath. And I know that there are several
questions. that I did not get a chance to ask
in this conversation. And I'm just hopeful. I'm
just hopeful. Yep, I'll be saying no more questions.
No more questions. But I hope that we have a
part two for this. And we have talked about Dr.
Darity. spoken about his work. For those of you
who have not heard of him, Dr. William, aka Sandy
Darity, is the father of stratification economics.
We have been talking around it, and I'm looking
forward to when we can talk. on it, in it, and
through it. But I'm thankful for each of you,
Farah, Keisha. Thank you, brother and sister,
for making this another really successful show.
Tell your families, thank you for allowing me
to borrow you and that I appreciate them. And
we're going to keep moving forward advancing
health equity together in our own way. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.