Things are getting way out of hand just to make sure Trump doesn’t get reelected…
Do the policies of President Trump make me look fat?
That’s the kind of question many black women might ask themselves, proposed during a recent appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Network by a Rutgers University professor.
Although the issue may be more precisely the stress and anxiety induced by the policies than the policies themselves, Brittney Cooper, who teaches gender studies at the university based in New Jersey, said on a recent episode of “Black Women OWN the Conversation.”
Research shows that black women lose weight more slowly than white women, and according to CampusReform.org, the Trump presidency could exacerbate the situation.
“We are living in the Trump era,” she said, “and look, those policies kill our people. You can’t get access to good health care, good insurance.
“I hate when people talk about Black women being obese. I hate it, because it becomes a way to blame us for a set of conditions that we didn’t create.” – @ProfessorCrunk.
Watch full episodes of #BlackWomenOWN the Conversation and more on the OWN app or https://t.co/NeZ9hnezAR. pic.twitter.com/pRKukjqbnV
— Black Women OWN the Conversation (@BlackWomenOWN) September 16, 2019
Increased stress may alter the metabolisms of black women to the point where it becomes easier to shed extra pounds, she said.
“I hate when people talk about black women being obese,” Cooper continued. “I hate it because it becomes a way to blame us for a set of conditions that we didn’t create.”
She added: “It’s literally that the racism that you’re experiencing and the struggle to make ends meet actually means the diet don’t [sic] work for you the same.”
Cooper told CampusReform.org in a separate interview that she quoted data from Dr. Arline Geronimus, a professor of public health science at Michigan University, from the 1990s.
Geronimus “argues pretty convincingly that black women have physiological stress responses to racial stimuli and this affects our long-term health,” Cooper said.
“I was citing this body of work and the president’s status as a racially polarizing figure that contributes to issues of racial stress for people of color.”
Cooper previously criticized the president in August during an appearance on MSNBC.
She was asked if Trump was “feeling the heat” from GOP lawmakers as the president continued a bitter trade war with China, and Cooper answered by saying she was worried that the president might consider another type of war to drive the economy.
Rutgers Professor @ProfessorCrunk on Trump feeling the pressure from the GOP:
“This is not a man who retreats easily… Trump either wants his wall or ride down on the glory of the economy. If he can’t have that, he’s willing to start a physical war in order to do it.” pic.twitter.com/PtFLd6aBFy
— TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) August 29, 2019
“One of the ways we got ourselves out of the slump of protectionism in the 1940s was, we entered World War II,” she told host Al Sharpton.
She added later: “Trump wants one big key thing under his belt. Either he wants his wall or to ride out on the glory of the economy. If he can’t have that, he’s absolutely willing to start a physical war in order to do it.”
