St. Augustine: A nation is a multitude of rational beings united by the common objects of their love. So what we have to ask ourselves at every critical point is, what do we love in common? Jon Meacham. 

What if we reimagined America? How would that look, or has America traveled too far down systemic racism’s road that there is no retrieval? Is this country redeemable? The thoughts of reimagining become clouded by so much contention and division in this nation’s present condition.

What all Americans hold to as dearly beloved tenements of Americana will be foundational to “Building the Bridge Together.”

Bold new initiatives must roll out to reimagine America and meet its challenges. First, a broad-based investigation must gather evidence of the realities of systemic racism, along with the various institutional purveyors, profiteers, and protectors of systemic racism, and white privilege. This analysis should investigate to debunk forever the idea that systemic racism is a myth. Reparations must be a part of any such investigation.

Thanks to growing momentum and changing attitudes among Americans, Brookings Institution fellow Andre Perry predicts that within 10 years the U.S. will provide some form of reparations to Black people. Dion Rabouin, author of Markets Axios

After the tangible analysis of such a report, systemic racism’s dismantling could involve both incentive and punitive measures to move past the nations’ failed cyclical pattern. This pattern involves moments of advancements followed by “white backlash.” 

It’s about time for America to explore the possibility of declaring racism as a public health crisis. The way violators of air pollution and emissions controls are held legally responsible for harming the environment and people who live in it, with such a declaration, racism would demonstrate an environmental hazard to victims of historic systemic racism. Those who dispense this hazard should be held legally responsible. 

Tunisia is in the middle of a social revolution. Signature to the reformation is the abolishment of the norms of past racist practices. Within the parameters of this new legislation, fines and imprisonment are sanctions for racist speech and violence against Black people and other marginalized communities in the Mediterranean country.

As of October 2018, Tunisia became the second African nation that criminalizes racism.

“The Tunisian parliament approved on Tuesday evening the country’s first law on the elimination of all forms of racism in a provision that many people have been expecting with great anticipation, and which organisations advocating minorities’ rights considered as “historical.”

The President of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, Masoud Romdhani, told Agence France-Presse that the law “is a turning point in Tunisia, and is as important as the decree of the abolition of slavery.”

Tunisia abolished slavery in 1846 during the rule of the Beys before the United States and many Western countries.” Mid East Monitor October 11th, 2018

On the healthcare side of the matter, education, expanded bias training, and financial incentives could be the driving force to establishing better healthcare outcomes for people of color. More funding for HBCU medical schools could be a part of this package, and more financial incentives for all medical schools to increase minority medical students. Studies have shown that minority health outcomes achieve better results when the physician is also a minority. These upgrades are not to segregate healthcare, but it places one more additional tool in the box for better healthcare for people of color.

 Also, tax credit incentives would give financial relief for minorities participating in healthier lifestyles in these communities. The effect would offset the expenses of testing, medication, and a nutritious diet instead of the cheaper, more readily available, unhealthy food choices.

Reimagining America is a moonshot as brave as Apollo 11 landing on the moon, as bold as FDR’s New Deal, as courageous as the March on Selma. Reimagining is just the start, and there are miles to go. However, suppose the consciousness of courageousness cultivates beyond the boundaries of skin color, phenotypes, and xenophobic fears. In that case, America can, at last, begin to fulfill its role as a world leader. 

The most diverse nation in the history of civilization can find a way to forge through division to hope. At the same time, admiration of Tunisia’s social revolution speaks to a better world. Notwithstanding, the dream of the total abolition of systemic racism must be “Made In America.”

Kevin Robinson Executive Director of Accord1