The U.S. passed the grim toll of over 500,000 deaths from COVID-19 this week—as you’ve likely read, that’s equivalent to the population of Atlanta. And even as relief comes into view with vaccine distribution, data is showing that white people are getting vaccinated at much higher rates than Black and Latinx people.

How can we prevent the vaccine rollout from becoming yet another way systemic racism literally kills Black and brown people? Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) has a plan.

This week on UNDISTRACTED, Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks with the Congresswoman about “vaccine redlining” (and her plan to fix it), the Capitol attack, her policy priorities and why we’re all welcome on “The Squad.” (There’s no membership fee; you just have to use your voice.)

Rep. Pressley represents Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District and is the first woman of color elected to Congress from the state. Now in her second term, she’s sworn to keep making sure that “those closest to the pain are closest to the power.”

Packnett Cunningham and Rep. Pressley covered so much ground in their conversation—from the need to erase student debt to how the Congresswoman feels about going wig-less these days. Highlights from their packed conversation:

• Rep. Pressley on the Capitol attack: “I think the image that has haunted me the most is that of the all Black custodial staff cleaning up the mess left behind by this violent white supremacist mob. Of course they—and all of the Capitol staff from custodians to food service workers to our aides to United States Capitol Police—all experienced their own fair share of trauma that day. But this was both a literal representation and a metaphor for what Black folks and the most marginalized have been doing for generations—and that is cleaning up the mess left by a violent white supremacist mob.”
• Rep. Pressley on “The Squad” 2.0: “How do I define ‘The Squad?’ I define it as anyone doing the work of building a more equitable and just society. So that is certainly not limited to any members of Congress. The Squad is big, y’all. It is a multi-racial, multi-generational movement of the most marginalized who have come together fueled by issues-based activism. And I think that movement has proven the old adage that ‘the power of the people has always been greater than the people in power.’ And it is because that squad is big and growing that democracy is in fact breathing another day.”
• Rep. Pressley on vaccine inequity: “We knew anecdotally how the virus would play out, given the comorbidities of structural racism and unequal access to healthcare. And so early on, I was banging the drum and advocating and legislating for the equitable collection of data. Myself and Senator Warren introduced a bill that would require the collection of racial demographic data so far as coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and death rates. And again, we knew anecdotally what communities would be hardest hit, but I believe that that which gets measured, gets done. So we needed the data to inform and drive the marshaling of resources…Now we’re continuing the same drum beat when it comes to vaccine recipients to guard against what I call ‘vaccine redlining.’”
• Rep. Pressley on her alopecia reveal one year later: “It’s still a struggle. Every day I think I make progress in my own healing and my own self-acceptance, but the reason why it hasn’t been easy is because it defies, disrupts and challenges people’s conventional narratives and beauty standards for what is professional, what is appropriate, what is feminine, what is pretty. And so just how I enter a room is disruptive for many, but increasingly so, when I see myself, my reflection back, I just accept that this is me. And in fact, sometimes people have said…‘Why don’t you just wear a wig?’”“You never say never, but now when I put a wig on, it just doesn’t feel in alignment with where I’m at and who I am. It feels like a costume. And I feel resentful that I should have to put on one more piece of armor in order to safely negotiate the world and to navigate spaces.”

President Biden may have signed new protections for LGBTQ people, but there’s anti-trans legislation being proposed in over a dozen states—and trans and gender-nonconforming people still face dangerous realities everyday.

What will it take for trans women—especially Black trans women, who are most at risk for violence—to live safe, free lives? This week on UNDISTRACTED, Brittany Packnett Cunningham sits down with activist and writer Raquel Willis about the struggle for transgender rights in America, and the importance of leadership opportunities for Black trans women.

Willis, one of the organizers of the June 2020 March for Black Trans Lives in New York, has worked for the Transgender Law Center, the Ms. Foundation and OUT magazine.

Packnett Cunningham and Willis dig into her work on the Trans Obituaries Project, spiritual trans ancestry and her “expansive new vision of feminism.” Highlights include:

• Willis on centering the humanity (and not just the dangers) of the Black trans experience: “A lot of times in our society, we don’t consider that trans people have lives, have loved ones, have family, have partners, have parents that want to make sure that we’re safe. So we’ve got to consider the humanity of the Black trans experience as well.”
• Willis on Black trans power: “Black trans people often amongst ourselves feel our power, but don’t necessarily really feel like other people see our power, see our potential for crafting a world of liberation.”
• Willis on an “expansive new vision of feminism:” “The new vision, particularly in the feminist space, is reckoning with our history. So if we can consider that some of those early [feminists] were just white supremacist as hell, then we also need to be able to consider that there has often been a trans misogynistic underpinning to larger feminist fights…It is a problem that we see public figures like J.K. Rowling, or even to a lesser extent, a Chimamanda Adichie, who espouse misinformation about trans women and try to pit trans women against cis women. Yes, trans experiences and cis experiences often are very different…That does not mean that our experiences as women are less valid or more valid than any other group of women.”
• Willis on the Black trans ancestors that guide her: “One of the most beautiful things about being trans or being queer in general is considering ancestry from a more expansive lens…There is a spiritual lineage that connects me to other queer and trans folks throughout history. I had to seek out their stories…the Marsha P. Johnsons, the Sylvia Riveras, the Crystal LaBeijas, the Mary Jones and Frances Thompsons—all the way back in the 1800s who are documented. I connect with them and I call on their ancestral power to get me through today because…there have been Black trans and gender-nonconforming folks throughout time.”

This week feels like go time. “There is so much to get done in this new administration,” Brittany Packnett Cunningham says in this week’s episode of UNDISTRACTED. “Let’s get moving. Everyone is talking about what we need to get done in the first hundred days.”

So it might seem counterintuitive to talk about slowing down. But podcast guest Tricia Hersey, founder of the Nap Ministry, argues that’s exactly what we should be focusing on. Hersey—who is also a poet, performance artist, activist and ordained minister (she’s known as the “Nap Bishop”)—says rest can be a form of radical resistance and healing, and that it’s essential if we want to dream the big dreams that will help construct a better future.

You won’t want to miss Hersey’s smart advice which, she will tell you, has nothing to do with “wellness,” and everything with creating a more just world.

In their conversation, Packnett Cunningham and Hersey break it down further. Some of our favorite parts:

• Hersey on the ways in which rest is radical: “All of culture is in collaboration for us not to rest. Every single part of our culture—from academia, to public schools, to the churches—everything is in collaboration for us to continue to use our bodies as a tool for their production. And so to understand how truly bamboozled you have been, it’s going to take some grieving around that. It’s going to take some understanding that grind culture is violence. And how do you want to align with that? Do you want to align with white supremacy and capitalism—and be exhausting your body? Or do you want to disrupt and dismantle it? And rest can be that way for us to be able to push back against it.”
• Hersey on why it’s so important to find time for rest—even now: “It really is a time to rest. It always has been, but I think rest needs to become centered, become seen as a social justice and racial justice issue. It’s a public health issue. And so to think that we can continue on from an exhausted disconnected state, because really when we aren’t resting, it’s bigger than just doing an all-nighter and not feeling well the next day. We really are disconnecting from our body. The more that we do that, the more we’re able to not have empathy and the more we’re able to not be able to give care, and without care in the world, none of us would be free.”
• Hersey on how to build space for rest: “My grandmother Ora, who was the muse for this work, she was a Jim Crow survivor…She worked two jobs, sometimes three jobs, raising nine children…She sat every single day on her couch with her eyes closed and she rested her eyes. And [when we asked about it], she was like, ‘I’m not asleep. You know, every shut-eye ain’t sleep. I’m resting my eyes so I can get a word—so I can hear what the universe wants to tell me.’…I think creating a space and re-imagining rest for yourself is really the work…I will tell people it may look like closing your eyes for five minutes in your car while you’re in a parking lot. It may be before you get out of the shower in the morning…taking two minutes for yourself.”