Thread by @ashtonpittman

THREAD: Have you heard about the Black Women, Systemic Barriers & COVID-19 Project?

The goal of this @MSFreePress/@JacksonAdvocate collaboration is not just to examine and report on systemic challenges the pandemic magnified, but to report solutions.
mississippifreepress.org/bwc

"For too long, Black women have been holding their breath, caught between an upsetting and absurd mashup of 'waiting to exhale' & 'waiting for Godot.' The lines between the two are revealed in Black women’s overwhelming fortitude to 'just get things done.'"mississippifreepress.org/16773/no-more-…

"Black women are the matriarchal figures of their homes, families, communities, churches and work environments. They show up when no one else does, leaving little or no time for themselves to take a break or a breath," writes @JAPublisher.
mississippifreepress.org/16773/no-more-…

"(Black women have) been acting frontline workers with and without the title. And that level of being present has nearly always cost them in mental, emotional, physical and overall sustainable health."mississippifreepress.org/16773/no-more-…

"The coronavirus may be relatively new, but the inequities causing these disparities are not. They were intentional & passed through the history of our state and nation with scant effort to change them and many attempts to cover them up how they happened."
mississippifreepress.org/16773/no-more-…

"Our big, hairy goal is to show why COVID-19 initially affected Black women in our state harder than any other group including even Black men. We posited that this was due to systemic and historic inequities, but our job is to prove it," writes @DonnerKay.
mississippifreepress.org/17702/how-and-…

"In this Jackson Advocate-Mississippi Free Press collaboration, the BWC Project team, as we call it for short, has spent a year planning, reporting, hosting solution circles of Black women and doing deep historic research on, so far, three counties."
mississippifreepress.org/17702/how-and-…

When Covid-19 arrived in Noxubee County, it exposed historical inequities that caused black women to bear the heaviest burden.

This is @TorshetaJ's story on her home county that kicked off the BWC Project.
mississippifreepress.org/16665/black-no…

The BWC Project takes a holistic approach to examining why Black women face such stark disparities today, examining everything from a lack of broadband access, slavery, economic subjugation, white terrorism, being overworked and more.
mississippifreepress.org/17323/kkk-whit…

As the BWC Project moves forward, it will deeply examine the causes of systemic inequities and solutions by focusing on issues one county at a time.

Next, @aliyahveal will focus on health in Holmes & @AziaCimone will focus on crime and safety in Hinds.
mississippifreepress.org/bwc/

"This is hard, time-consuming & stressful journalism, all. We and our whole team believe nothing less will take our state and our people where we all deserve to be together," writes @MSFreePress editor @DonnerKay.

You can donate to support MFP here: givebutter.com/mfpnewsmatch20…

For those interested in a subscription to the @JacksonAdvocate, which partnered with @MSFreePress on the #BWCProject, you can find information here: jacksonadvocateonline.com/subscribe-now/

CORRECTION: @aliyahveal in Hinds and @AziaCimone in Holmes!