Stop killing us
Becoming more attentive to the world around us, dark UI patterns, blockchain, and defining success
Hi friend,
This past week, another brutal rampage occurring in Boulder, Colorado. 10 lives lost, families devastated, and a debate on gun control that never seems to end.
When compared to the Atlanta shooting, the speed at which the Boulder incident was addressed was night and day. Within 12 hours, every single Boulder victim and their life story was captured in every major media publication. It took almost five days to get the names of Atlanta’s victims correct.
Without a doubt, there is a massive problem in addressing crimes here in America interwoven with racism, sexism, and elitism. Until we can acknowledge and face discrimination head-on, our marginalized communities will continue to die in silence. We must become more attentive to what we share and don’t share.
What I want to point out this week is the massive failure of our public health systems.
In NYC, our state-sponsored vaccine finder is an abhorrent mess that crashes constantly. A lone developer had to step in and create his own vaccine finder to remedy the situation. Vaccines are tossed every single day due to patients canceling or forgetting their appointment. Qualifications do not include low-income individuals and households, even though this has been reported relentlessly last year as the highest risk. (No health insurance, live in crowded homes, lack of PPI, lack of regular doctor check-ins to document any underlying health issues, the list goes on)
Around the world, countries have been begging for access and lowered prices on COVID-19 vaccines. Prices have been fluctuating tremendously, controlled by just a few pharma companies around the globe. (I was on a call with educators from Canada and they, too, are struggling with their rollout as they are dependent on other countries for production.)
Even after a year into this pandemic, we still don’t have facemasks and other PPI freely available in America. Many other countries ramped up their production within months of the pandemic and have been exporting PPI to countries in need, including America.
On top of this, there is this twisted rhetoric that it is up to every one of us to wait our turn for the vaccine… that it is our responsibility to save the vulnerable. When in reality, it is not up to us as individual citizens to control the production and distribution of PPI and vaccines. This rhetoric is extremely reminiscent of the time when we were told to not buy or wear face masks to protect our doctors. It is the government’s job to save the lives that their broken systems are murdering each day.
Our most vulnerable, including low-income and minority neighborhoods, are at the highest risk, yet their identities are still not eligible to be vaccinated. Around the world, people are contracting and dying of COVID due to unwavering costs. And yet, countless doses of vaccines are being thrown out every single day by our decrepit systems.
This poor public health response will be one of the biggest genocide of low-income and marginalized communities our country has ever faced.
Dear America,
Stop Killing us.
Sincerely,
Your People
PS - Celebrated my birthday yesterday 🎂
For my birthday wish, looking to fundraise for my nonprofit organization QTBIPOC Design that provides free & accessible design education to LGBTQ+ designers of color.
Especially in a time where people are struggling to be employed + finding jobs, QTBIPOC Design's mission is to make sure that there is nothing standing in the way of our community and the design career of their dreams.
Donate via BuyMeACoffee (they do not charge fees, which makes them much better than Patron) All donors will be put on a special email list to receive updates on our org as we develop it further.
What I’m up to
Clubhouse (for all): Sunday, March 28 w/ Dalia Kinsey “Living Queer & Melanated” (add me @wakuu and I’ll ping you in)
For Asians: Sunday, March 27 - AAPI Healing Space (waitlist)
For Asians: Sunday, March 28 - Asian American Healing Space (waitlist)
For queer POC: Tuesday, April 13 - Design Bootcamp: from inspiration to design, how to improve your ideation, collaboration, and time management (open)
For queer Asians: Sunday, April 18 - Yellow Glitter Sparkes, Gaysian support group (open)
Speaking @ Kwantlen Polytechnic University: March 29 - Creating more equitable design teams
Speaking @ New Jersey Institute of Technology: March 31 - Being LGBTQ+ in Tech
Speaking @ University of Washington: April 10 - Designing for Equity
UI for the future
Our digital interfaces will need to start following stricter legal guidelines. Those buttons that confuse you and impossible-to-find cancelation pages will start to be heavily scrutinized.
Blockchain & Ethereum for the future
Great overview of where are we now and what are some of the current issues with blockchain technologies.
Defining success
“What is success? to laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. this is to have succeeded!”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
As always, thanks for reading!
P.S. If you enjoyed this, share or sign up here: mindfulmoments.substack.com
Anything else? You can always hit "reply" to email me directly. 💌
Have a beautiful day!
Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven
Yellow Glitter Podcast | IG | YT | FB | TW | StevenWakabayashi.com