I want to have a conversation about how hard it is to work and be a caretaker (child, elder, whoever) at the same time.../

...but if that conversation doesn't foreground caretakers who have been essential workers from jump in some places (like MD) or that they are often Black/Brown then we aren't doing all the work. /

Seeing folks call for childcare as though they are entitled to putting caretakers lives at risk (caretakers who have their own families to protect) has been...concerning me. /

Calling for daycares to be open so a privileged group can work at home also doesn't solve the health safety problem or confront that entitlement to Black/Brown/x womens labor. /

And....truly...some equity for caretakers AND some equity across access to childcare and home support (including benefits, living wages, etc) are things that have been demanded way before COVID. /

Which is to say the messaging on this is wild white and privileged....but there is nothing surprising to most B/NB WOC about the fact you/we can't work and watch the kids at the same time. These are old demands (slavery old) and the solutions are old (slavery old) too.

And the outcry around it is beginning to feel a little like less like safety and sustainability for all and a little more Miss Ann needs an Ernestine of late. I'd love to read work by those who are thinking through the first...not so much the second. /

I suspect it would mean changing our entire relationship to "work" (and "community") which is honestly the world I'd love to see emerge post COVID anyway..../fin