The Whiteness of Wealth
The Whiteness of Wealth
THE WHITENESS OF WEALTH + WELLBEING.
I remember when my Guyanese grandma had to finally enter a care home at the age of 92, being shocked and appalled at the state of the place we had to send her too. She was fiercely independent & in these moments needed more care than we could provide. And so we went. Downtown Toronto. This wasn’t one of the luxury homes with pools and fireplaces and fancy exercise spaces.
Black and Brown seniors in wheelchairs lined the hallways. The air felt suffocating. It’s too “chokey” in here, she said.
She was right. I felt like I couldn’t breathe in that space. It was crammed with racialized bodies. The forgotten people. No forgotten by us. She was our beloved. But forgotten and hidden by society. My grandma’s 90 years of life, as a hairstylist in Guyana, as a migrant, as a Canadian in subsidized housing didn’t afford her a fancy final resting place.
If someone in your family were to become terminally ill right now, would you have the savings to pay for their care?
Who pays for youth to reach higher education, college and university, if their parents live paycheque to paycheque?
Do you have savings to visit the dentist 2x/year, consult a naturopathic doctor, receive monthly massages, exercise with a personal trainer, buy organic food, AND STILL save for your child’s education? (And also pay your rent, bills, hydro, and groceries).
The truth is that, factually and statistically, WEALTH IS WHITE.
Wealth isn’t just about having money in the bank for status and nice cars.
Accumulated wealth represents safety and security.
Wealth represents a capacity to reach higher levels of education and healthcare, which can lead to higher paying jobs.
Wealth represents living in housing that doesn’t have toxic paint peeling off the walls.
WEALTH = MENTAL HEALTH.
That doesn’t mean that money buys happiness. But what wealth does buy is security to know that your loved ones have healthy food and education. Wealth is a means to relieve the anxiety of “what if I don’t have enough this month”. Wealth is safety & is often a luxury that is continually too far out of reach for our racialized families.