“there was no survey, no polls, because they have a problem with collecting data about us, but they went ahead and said, ‘okay, vaccine hesitant!’” says timothy. “they’re saying black and indigenous communities don’t want [the vaccine], but they’re also not giving us priority or support, which is a problematic dichotomy. so we are our own responsibility.”
that responsibility looks largely like community organization, or mutual aid, which is a voluntary exchange of resources where people work together to meet each other’s needs. while this concept has been getting considerable press during the pandemic, it has existed for, well, ever.
“cooperative economics have been around in our world since we began in order to thrive,” explains caroline hossein, associate professor of business and society at york university, and founder of the
diverse solidarity economies (dise) collective
. “when survival is being threatened, or people are being harmed or excluded, what we do is group together and bond over a common cause to mitigate those harms.”
this drive to support one’s community functions like an evolutionary mechanism born from where people are rooted, hossein says. for westerners of african descent, then, it finds its roots in colonization and the underground railroad, and an intuitive sense of “resourcing funds from within.” today, these groups often share the same socioeconomic status, which builds trust and reciprocity.