University of Michigan research confirms what many Black Americans have lived: white Americans, despite being the physically healthiest group, are the least resilient.
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University of Michigan research confirms what many Black Americans have lived: white Americans, despite being the physically healthiest group, are the least resilient. White men experience the fewest stressful life events of any group and yet each one hits them harder. The explanation from the researchers is direct. They are less prepared because they have less experience.
That lack of preparation is not neutral. It has consequences for everyone around them.
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University of Michigan research confirms what many Black Americans have lived: white Americans, despite being the physically healthiest group, are the least resilient. White men experience the fewest stressful life events of any group and yet each one hits them harder. The explanation from the researchers is direct. They are less prepared because they have less experience.
That lack of preparation is not neutral. It has consequences for everyone around them.
We are watching those consequences in real time. The same systems, institutions, and policies that protected white folx from adversity are shifting. AI, economic instability, demographic change, the slow erosion of guaranteed advantage. And the response, from many white folx, is to reach for the nearest available support. Which, too often, is Black people.
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We are watching those consequences in real time. The same systems, institutions, and policies that protected white folx from adversity are shifting. AI, economic instability, demographic change, the slow erosion of guaranteed advantage. And the response, from many white folx, is to reach for the nearest available support. Which, too often, is Black people.
But what needs to be said plainly: that reaching has never been reciprocated at scale. Black folx have built resilience, joy, community, and culture under conditions that were designed to prevent all four. Not because the conditions were acceptable. Because survival required it.
White vulnerability, unexamined and unaddressed, does not stay contained. It expands. It demands. It reframes Black joy as threat, Black boundaries as abandonment, Black self-protection as aggression.
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But what needs to be said plainly: that reaching has never been reciprocated at scale. Black folx have built resilience, joy, community, and culture under conditions that were designed to prevent all four. Not because the conditions were acceptable. Because survival required it.
White vulnerability, unexamined and unaddressed, does not stay contained. It expands. It demands. It reframes Black joy as threat, Black boundaries as abandonment, Black self-protection as aggression.
A person drowning will pull down whoever is closest if they have not learned to swim.
This is a swim or sink moment white folx did not anticipate. And the instinct, when you have never had to develop resilience, is to make the problem everyone else's.
It is not.
Developing resilience is not punishment. It is the prerequisite for the real community white folx claim to want. You cannot co-conspire with people you are still treating as a resource.
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A person drowning will pull down whoever is closest if they have not learned to swim.
This is a swim or sink moment white folx did not anticipate. And the instinct, when you have never had to develop resilience, is to make the problem everyone else's.
It is not.
Developing resilience is not punishment. It is the prerequisite for the real community white folx claim to want. You cannot co-conspire with people you are still treating as a resource.
The work exists…but white folx have to choose to do it.
https://ihpi.umich.edu/news/black-americans-may-be-more-resilient-stress-white-americans
#LifeBeyondTheSupremacyMyth #MythOfWhiteSupremacy #ProfitWithoutOppression #KimCrayton
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R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
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The work exists…but white folx have to choose to do it.
https://ihpi.umich.edu/news/black-americans-may-be-more-resilient-stress-white-americans
#LifeBeyondTheSupremacyMyth #MythOfWhiteSupremacy #ProfitWithoutOppression #KimCrayton
@KimCrayton1 I do not object to the underlying point. I object to the communicative structure. This post leaves no visible way to answer except confession, silence, or confirmation of the accusation. That may be useful as a denunciation, but it is not much use as dialogue.
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@KimCrayton1 I do not object to the underlying point. I object to the communicative structure. This post leaves no visible way to answer except confession, silence, or confirmation of the accusation. That may be useful as a denunciation, but it is not much use as dialogue.
@Netraven make a better suggestion and do not demand yet again from Black people.@KimCrayton1
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University of Michigan research confirms what many Black Americans have lived: white Americans, despite being the physically healthiest group, are the least resilient. White men experience the fewest stressful life events of any group and yet each one hits them harder. The explanation from the researchers is direct. They are less prepared because they have less experience.
That lack of preparation is not neutral. It has consequences for everyone around them.
@KimCrayton1 This
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We are watching those consequences in real time. The same systems, institutions, and policies that protected white folx from adversity are shifting. AI, economic instability, demographic change, the slow erosion of guaranteed advantage. And the response, from many white folx, is to reach for the nearest available support. Which, too often, is Black people.
@KimCrayton1
I'm not reaching for support. I'm listening, because although I've got survival skills from adversity, I know I can always learn from Black folks who have had an extra layer of adversity on their shoulders.I'm always grateful for people who speak with honesty, not always easy when there are those who feel compelled to put someone down or mansplain why they aren't saying something "right".
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A person drowning will pull down whoever is closest if they have not learned to swim.
This is a swim or sink moment white folx did not anticipate. And the instinct, when you have never had to develop resilience, is to make the problem everyone else's.
It is not.
Developing resilience is not punishment. It is the prerequisite for the real community white folx claim to want. You cannot co-conspire with people you are still treating as a resource.
@KimCrayton1 This resilience was something I felt at last Saturday's "whistle kit party." There was a whole lot of listening.
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R relay@relay.an.exchange shared this topic
