Many of us have heard the phrase, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Of course, words do have an incredible power that can cause great harm, both in a personal sense and in a much broader psychosociological sense. With the recent assault on language and word usage by the current federal administration, it seems the perfect time to think about the words we use and the power they have. Like many of you, at E4A we consider the language around racial and Indigenous health equity to be critical to the work that we do and the communities and researchers we support.
As the federal administration works to ban words such as equity, racism, BIPOC, LGBTQ, disability, inclusion, Native American, and many, many others, it is clear that they also believe in the power of words to shape and reshape society and cultural norms. Recent moves to eradicate or stigmatize the use of these words hinder our collective ability to talk about and do the work that can drive positive change toward equity and justice. By limiting our communication, the administration may seek to divide us, making it harder for us to come together and work collaboratively and collectively. This assault on the language of equity is in addition to the rescinding of federal funding for health equity research.
Removing the words describing both the groups and communities being pushed to the margins as well as those that describe the mechanisms of this marginalization may hinder us but it will not and cannot stop our fight for equity and justice. We understand that some racial and Indigenous equity scholars and organizations are in especially precarious positions, and here we make our commitment to doing our best to support them.
On April 23, 2025 we will launch a call for proposals through which we currently expect to award $5 million across two tracks. Through the Rapid Response track E4A will support those that have lost their federal racial and Indigenous health equity research funding. This funding will be awarded as expeditiously as possible with a particular focus on maintaining the field and careers of early-to-mid-career health equity researchers. Through the Sustained Support track, E4A will support new research led by community-based organizations, to protect and advance racial and Indigenous health equity. We anticipate that the work funded through both tracks will align with the mission and core values of E4A.
Yes, it will be hard. Yes, we will persist.