“Oprah? You’re taking on Oprah?” Friends and colleagues of Dr. Shawn Ginwright, Professor at San Francisco State University and the author of Black Youth Rising, asked him that question in response to her comment “In the U.S. kids care more about sneakers than they do about books.” (Oprah built an all-girls school in South Africa.) Dr. Ginwright wrote an editorial about the seductive and false explanation that inequality is a direct result of individual responsibility through ability, drive, choices, attitudes and behaviors. “Oprah is a great philanthropist, don’t get me wrong,” said Dr. Ginwright, “but the issue is way more complex than that.” His morning keynote presentation, “Addressing root causes of health disparities: promoting positive health and academic achievement among youth” opened up the dialogue of inequality as being systemic and structural. He said the process of building the capacity of individuals, institutions and communities to promote and sustain environmental health could be addressed through the four C’s of radical healing: caring relationships, consciousness, community and culture. He cites a community project where youth helped to clean up a park, the result was a sense of hope that was off the charts, “through their contribution to the community now they have renewed optimism for the future.”
