Waiting on Reparations: Knowledge is Power

you and welcome back. I've said this before, but what I love about this season of Spit is that we get to hear from all kinds of different people with different perspectives, and this episode is another great example of that. Now, today's episode features an important discussion from Waiting on Reparations, a podcast about hip hop and politics. Every week, host Dope Knife and Lingua Franca explore the history of public policy and its impacts on the hip hop community and

its culture. In this episode, Dope Knife and Lingwood discussed the reality of health risks and the unfortunate disparities that are often found in marginalized communities. The two discuss their own health plus the experiences of family and friends who could have benefited from knowing more about their own health backgrounds the types of information found in the results of a twenty three and me test. The two explore how there's much more to learn from DNA than just your ancestry,

and how important that knowledge can be. Let's listen in as these two share their unique perspective, including their thoughts on how the vital information provided in DNA testing can aid us in dealing with an unequal health care system. You are listening waiting on reparations production of I R Radio. What's up all this? Dope nighte franca. We are waiting on reparations. Hurry up, yo. We are the show rich

in the gap between him pomp and politics. You know it's been a long time left you left you without it, dope? How know you? I've been good. I've been good. I mean, we haven't seen each other since that show that we did. We did have an excellent show down in Savannah to go that. I was seeing the highlights of your tour. I've been well since then and been while I'm wrestled because I've just gotten off the tour when you were

getting ready either treasure. Yeah, so I'm wrestling. I'm actually you know, you know how it goes when you're on the road and then you're like, man, I can't wait to get home, And then you're back home you're like, man, I'm tired of looking at all this. I want to go back out there. And yeah, yeah, yeah, what about you PhD Yes, I defended my dissertation a week ago. It feels like it was months ago because probably I just blacked out the entire experience because it's terrifying. But yeah,

so I am a doctor now, so that's crazy. But yeah, and then been tor in Birmingham, BC, Asheville, Savana obviously, um, and I just had a West coast tour announced like yesterday, I'm going out with a band called Holy f Word doesn't really dope, but yeah, we're going from like Vancouver down to San Diego. How many dates? Ten? You said next week? Yeah, oh say you just get at it that. Yeah.

So yeah, that's what's up. Well, it is election day today in Georgia all across the state, and we are having some decent voter turnout from what I hear, we are, Yeah, and so there's been a lot of conversations and go oh, voters Untian wasn't that bad. But it's like one, people are livid that their votes are trying to be taken

away from them, and so they're coming out in greater numbers. UM. One survey showed that Georgians believed their vote matters, like to a degree that is higher than anywhere else in the country. Like Georgians really believed. Yeah, like folks in the state really believe their vote matters. Like I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so we got people who are like really motivated to vote because they really feel like it counts and it matters more so than anywhere else in the country.

And then we've had tons of organizers, people like the New Georgia Project and Fair Fight and Black Voters Matter, etcetera, registering tons of vote and I mean like we got obviously everyone were Stacy A. Baron's running for governor. We have an opportunity to expand medicaid under her governorship. Um, there's like tons of tons and tons of uninsured Georgians.

We have like one of the lowest insured rates in the country and then of the highest maternal mortality rates too, and so like, um, that alone, I mean that alone could be world altering for so many people. But yeah, a lot of folks getting out the vote today, feeling excited, feeling empowered, cool so on the topic of Medicaid and health insurance and our health generally. In this episode, we've teamed up with twenty three and me for a conversation,

for a conversation about DNA testing. Now you're twenty three, here's a DNA testing you think it. But guys, we already heard you do that episode about ancestry and things like that. That's not really what we're talking about today. See,

it's it's not necessarily limited to your ancestry. Like, DNA testing can be used to gain insight on one's own health, certain things that you may be at risk for, and it can equip you with the information that you need, and it can equip you with the information that you need to make the necessary changes and live your best life.

You know. So we're can alert you to your risk of type two diabetes, maculate generation, trying to keep your eye health good, sailiac disease UM, if you might be a high risk for chronic kidney disease um later onset Alzheimer's um, which definitely something I'm thinking about having you know, multiple incidences of it in my family, but then you can see if you're at higher risk of Morkinson's a trial defig relation, which is kind of like irregular heartbeat. Um,

there's all kinds of of exema. Like, there's all sorts of things that you can discover. To kick it off, we're gonna start by recapping the story and legendary hip hop producer Ja Dilla for visiting some of J Dilla's story UM with his own health UM as well as preventative healthcare broadly and the power of knowing about the DNA. Yeah. Now we've definitely mentioned j BLA on the show before.

Just to recap you. So, J Dilla was diagnosed with an incurable blood disease around two thousand two, two thousand five. He underwent intensive treatment. I do believe he was misdiagnosed a couple of times, and twenty nine out of thirty one tracks from Dyla's uh last album Donuts were actually recorded in his hospital bed. He using the Boss SP three or three sampler and a small forty five record player as those friends bottom And it was released on

his thirty second birthday. And I mean you catch up. You can't overstate the importance of that j Kila album Donut. He can't remember the first time you heard that? I yeah, I was mind blowing. It was around the same time I was like a pretty young person because at the same time I discovered like m F Doom Cats like that that really expanded my idea of what hip hop can be. And you know, sonically um and also resonated with a lot of how I initially got into hip hop,

like through like adult Swinton cartoons a night. They play like a lot of lo fi sort of um, like a lot of samples drawings from an earlier era, very nostal mix, founding and revolutionary with her And so yeah, when I heard Dona's Time, I was like, oh my god, Like hip hop is can be so much. I mean he influenced. He influenced countless people like he pretty much like influenced hip hop producers, jazz musicians is partially responsible

for like neo soul is a genre. And as far as the people that he's worked with me, you're talking tribe called quest q Tive comment Erica bad Quest Love from the Ruth like everybody. So J Dill is like a prolific, prolific producer, but we lost some early on thirty two years old. So Dillah was uninsured at the time and he didn't seek care until he was sick.

And there's disproportionate rates of heart disease, cancer diabetes in the black community that could be mitigated to folks knew that they are risks and they felt, you know, in charge of their own health. Yeah, I mean, I mean so many people, even if you have insurance, you know, just don't go to a doctor until they're thick. And especially in the hip hop community in the black community,

it's it's definitely like an issue. I mean, there's like a laundry list of preventative cares that you can take right Like you can eat, you can change your diet, and you can change your lifestyle and all that stuff.

But at the end of the day, the more information that you have about you get your health, the more a quiff you are when you do when misfortune does arrive and you do have to go into the healthcare system or you know, even unfortunate time to think about like I had multiple hospitalizations last year while I was pregnant, and um, you know, that's a very exciting thing, a little scary, but you know it's going through something that

you're really stoked about. But even you know, when you're in the hospital my experience, I feel like it's also the same for a lot of people. Um. It feels like choices are just made for you. Like you go in and they're like, we gotta these tests and we're gonna do this treatment and this and that. This is the plan. Um. And so I think it's important for people to feel empowered to say like, hey, I wanted information about this. I know I'm a rich for X,

Y and Z. Let's talk about that. So they can really take control of those conversations where you know, the power dynamics feel very imbalanced. Were like they're talking to these medical experts who are like, you know, they got the game plan versus you that it's just like you're just there because you care about your health and you want to be well. Um, But coming into that conversation like yo, I know what I'm gonna ask about, I know what my concerns are. I'm gonna speak up for myself.

It is an important part of really taking advantage of like preventative health care and getting the health outcomes like you want you want to see so having Yeah, definitely, Yeah, sorry, now I was just gonna add like I I also have like a personal experience with that. My father is similar to Jo's situation where he got diagnosed with a kidney condition and we found it out too late and he didn't really act on it until he was sick.

And I remember the ins and outs of the hospital and the testing and trying to figure out what was wrong with them. You know, by the time we even you know, they can kinpoint what the actual issue was,

it was almost too late. Yeah, But I mean, thankfully there are opportunities to for certain conditions, have insight into how your DNA can affect your likelihood for developing those conditions, and then you can you know, be more empowered to make healthier choices that can improve the you can improve

your quality of life. Um, I think learning those lessons from our experiences and your experience with your dad and my experience in the hospital a bunch of times last year definitely a test um how important is to take that pro racket staff and like, if you can learn all something about yourself, something about your likelihood for different um conditions, you can like, you know, make more informed and empowered choice at itself. Sure, I mean like I

had another personal experience as well. You know, my father lost my grandmother, his mother, to Alzheimer's. He was her he was her primary caregiver at that time, and it's currently the primary care giver, primary caregiver for his partner, my stepmom, who also has Alzheimer's, and I've seen him close the way this impacts the family, having dealt with like really strong emotions observing you know, my stepmother's mental

state evolved in the years since their diagnosis. But luckily my parents are runners, and being physically activist is really central to their lives, which has been found to help

prevent and slow cognition impacts. So knowing that early, knowing that you have an increased likelihood of developing something like Alzheimer's, you can start off early on, you know, running, being this lee active and making those lifestyle changes that can actually you know, completely change the course of your life, you know, if you if you just have that info

early on. So same thing with knowing if you're at risk with breast cancer, getting regular checkups and screenings and you know, get adjusting your diet to know that you're at risk of heart disease. Now it is, you know, important that we remind you, Like DNA testing, isn't in

itself like recommending a treatment. Yeah. So. On the topic of breast cancer, the TTY three and met dr C A one and b r C A two Genetic Health Risk Report is intended for use with adults to report three genetic variants in the b r C A one and b r C A two genes associated with the higher risk of developing breasted or variant and prostate cancer.

The report doesn't include variants and other genes linked to hereditary cancer, so it's not intended to diagnose any disease or tell you about your overall risk of developing disease. It's not intended to determine any treatments, and of course you know your results should be confirmed in a critical setting before taking any medical up, you know, any medical actions. So it's not a substitute for visits to healthcare professionals

for recommended screenings are appropriate follow up UM. It can this kind of prompt you to consider UM lifestyle changes, what you want to talk about with your doctor, but ultimately you know it's important to go see a doctor and talk to them about, you know, very soon as you concerned about speaking of these twenty three in ME reports and DNA testing in general as a topic, like what are your general thoughts about that? I mean, like,

bring me back to pregnancy once again. If I had known that I was at increased risk for just gestational diabetes while pregnant, um, that would at least have unsettled or at least would have settled some of the uncertainty of like simply not knowing when I went in to get my you know, blood tests, and I was like really nervous, like, um, that uncertainty was almost as bad as a lot of the other health stuff I was

going through. But but again, I'm sorry. I don't know if he caught the yelling at doctor, But again, like having that knowledge and feeling empowered like okay, like I could kind of imagine some different potentialities here and be able to have frank conversations with my doctor around that, I would have felt great. But you know, I got through it, So I hope other people don't have to deal with that same thing. But let's be frank about it. You know, we're we're both sitting here and we haven't

taken the town ourselves for this episode's sake. Um, it was something that we both needed more data and more information on. And you know, everyone has their reasons of being skin intregity with giving you know, just being frank with you handing over your DNA to a big company

or something like that. So that's generally is my hesitation in doing it, is the fear of that, and then the fear of my privacy and the fear of you know, like we talked about finding out our data, and it's just like wanting to make sure that your data is in the right hands, you know, that it actually is data that that's like a personal fear or that I've had that was an obstacle in doing this because you know, like when we when we were approached for this, we

were asked if we wanted to take the test. I didn't take it for that reason. And I got to say that through the course of of everything that we've read and everything that we've been looking at, I actually feel more comfortable with it now, and I actually do think I'm going to go get the report done after this. For all of the reasons that we've talked about them not a spring chicken of an m C. You know, like the whole thing would being like a rapper and

m C and being in the hip hop. This this sense of invulnerability, you know, because it's such a youthful thing, you can kind of get slept up in thinking that you're going to be young forever and that you know you're gonna be fine and nothing's gonna hurt you, and not not taking your health seriously. And again, you know, it's not something you should just think about when you're getting older. But like we've been saying, this is all

about preventative measure and preventative care. So the suitor that you start looking into things like that, even even if you don't go in the route of finding out your DNA, but if you take a proactive step in your health and maintaining it and making sure that you're in the you know, the best condition that you possibly could be in, that's always important. Yeah, you know, like people tell you all the time, Oh, you need to eat right, Oh you need to exercise, Oh you need to keep your

blood pressure down and limit your sugar. But when you have like a concrete reason, like oh, I met, I know I'm at to increase risk for this, like that can really get you going, like, Okay, I really do need to hit the gym. I I do need to be I don't know, I'm drinking more water or whatever it is. Because it's not just this abstract you know, just people bombarding you with advice you didn't ask for.

It's like really tied to your personal life. And so I mean I think that's a big benefit, and I definitely understand why, particularly within you know, the circles where we move, there's a lot of just medical hesitancy generally, um, you know, just given the legacy of things like just there's been there's I don't even want to to do it because like there's mad crazy things that have happened in our history, in our past and make people like I don't know about doctors though, but you know, putting

that information directly into your hands, um, so you can decide what to do with it. It's not necessarily like, you know, whatever you gotta do with your doctor. If you don't like going to see doctor, I get it, you should go. But if you take the information and at least start making different choices in your personal life with regards to your diet, with the cards your exercise, Like there you go. You know, that's that's empowerment right there. But I definitely drove a little bit of my you know,

concerned the first like I don't know doctor's medicine. I just like, you know, like I was saying about being the hospital, it's just been so nerve wracking to like and overwhelming to like take control of my health. But

I kind of get it now, you know. Like no, I was gonna add on to that, like for people who haven't been in the like healthcare system and haven't had to deal with it yet, it's one of those things where it's like like you don't you don't know until you know, you know what I'm saying, Like, once you're in it, Shoot, the more information that you're armed with,

the the easier it is to get through. I'm not saying it's easy at all, but it's like the more that you know about your own health that can save you so much time and money and like, to be honest with you, heartache, you know. Yeah. I mean, like for like I think it's probably like nine percent of the time being in the hospital. It is like one of the lower points of a person's life. Right, Like, nobody wants to be there unless you're like, yeah, I'm

having a baby, it's outside it. But think about the fact that that medical head to dude that you know, people don't want to go to the people don't want to get these you know, blood tests and things. If you are proactive about lifestyle choices, you can avoid that larger unpleasantness of being in the hospital. Um because you you know, had the condition that ran unchecked and now

it's really really adversely impacting you. Um. So on the flip side, it's like, you know, I didn't really I was like no, no about this because like of like skepticism about doctors and hospitals. But having this information can help you avoid deep intentions with it. Um. If you if you really want to like, all right, I'm gonna get my life right, I'm gonna do what I need to for myself and my health, for my family who wants me to live a happy and full life. Right,

So that's kind cool. So yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, everybody has to do what's right for them, and everybody has to do what's comfortable for them. This is just one of different avenues that you can look into um on this particular issue of your health. DNA testing. It's not the be all and end all.

And also, you know, you might even be thrown off because we're talking about twenty three and me and you're thinking that I thought that was ancestry and whatnot, and it's you know that you can do more with the knowledge of your DNA than just find out who you know, what your ancestry is. And that's part of what this is all about. It's just a tool. Black people are at a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, sickle cell cancer. I mean, these are all reasons to be proactive about it.

And also, and I'm sure Mariah agree with me on this, we're advocates of mental health and in our communities, we have a laundry list of things that we're stressing about and that we're worried about from day to day, and don't think for a second that your health concerns aren't

adding on to that. So it's important also to consider I think the relationship between our physical health and our overall well being, inclusive of mental health, and so being able to like go in and have that empowered conversation can have you know, I don't know, like a sense of self esteem. I don't ways say building, but you know what I mean, Like you you feel a little more empowered, you feel a little more confident because you're

armed with information. I feel like, you know, I think that's like a universal principle if you're going into something like, all right, I got this information to draw off of, like preparation itself for whatever it is that you have to deal with. Um. I think I'm definitely you know, going back to the example of pregnancy, there's so so much uncertainty, so many things they're just not and it's it's not just like the physical toll of my knees

are aching or whatever. It's alway's like mentally it takes a lot out of you. But you know, it's always it's always easier to talk about things when you wrap them, at least for me. What do we mean? What about you? Mariety? You feel you feel like we could, you feel like we could bring this home. I suppose I am a rapper, but I guess this is the big test of time. If I can wrap about uh DNA knowledge, I can wrap at anything. So let's get it. Um um we

over here waiting, no reparations. I'm tired of taking all of these little adventures. I'm trying to take a week off. Visit mccardi out the just my dentist, get my blood pressure check, get them a perfect Sure. The uncertainty is a pretty quirky thing. But lot love, long and prosperous of arn injury. I'm gonna drinking too much PBO. Should I compare to how's my blood sugar? Should I stop

eating burger cake? But now we're doing the story is going in to getherety, But never ever need to be scared, because see a little bit knowledge getting out for you to prepare to eat your carrots to some lamps, would ever takes stay up. It is in faith. But there's some indicators there from take one, a lot of information hidden right under the radar to mark a conversation, some contemplations and lift changes. I don't know. It's up to you.

So what you're gonna, what you're gonna, What you're gonna, what you're gonna do? All right? Yeoh yoh, yoh, wait, you know reparations. It's obviously freend actual podcast with hip hop and politics. Can nack? I know everybody talk and they be in on their chat. But don't worry bout

your health. You better go get you with chat, get some p s A, al shimis and diabetes being play, But don't be afraid to go and let them check your d n A. If you dive deep, you find the factors that you need to change so you can see a doctor. Just cut back off the e J. I don't even play. I'm about to go with. Just be selfish, get me your report and see just if I got a health risk, because when they'd be creeping up, they're moving on the stealth tip and with the knowledge,

I can see somebody who can help it. But make your own decision with whatever you choose. I understand the reservations I was hesitant to, but when I look into the subject that I learned what they do and made me comfortable enough to go and learn me the truth shuts. We gotta leave this as fun as it could be. And that's why we did a team up with twenty three and b don't Knife and lane with Franko or they called my riot P and she did a dissertation that she got a PhD. And I didn't do none

of that. But I M N M c and I'm dotting on my eyes and I'm crossing on my tees. What so you they ain't knowing what they face and take care of yourself. Love. Waiting on Reparations Yeah you yeah, yeah you yet, Yeah you get dope yo, yo yo. Listen Dope knife and you have been listening to Waiting on Reparations half that week. You liked our story and check out what Oscar Ramires has to say about his journey to health discovery on the Daily Dive Plaster Ramires.

You can find his episode on the Spit feed, on the I Heart Radio app, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And that's it on another dope show. Did this episode inspire you to take a closer look at your health history, your genetic makeup? Who new DNA could reveal so much about our past while also holding the keys to certain health insights that may impact our future. I continue to be inspired by these stories, and I

hope you do as well. Catch you next time. Listen to Spit, an original podcast from I Heart Radio and twenty three in the on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast