The Path to Change
Jayline Coste is a 2021 Graduate from Frank Sinatra School of the Arts and a Hunter College undergraduate.
“I sat in my room feeling helpless but the truth was that no matter how powerless I felt, it wouldn’t change anything in my community and in the health care system. So I got to work.”
By Jayline Coste
As a high school student being introduced to a whole new environment was as overwhelming as it was exciting. I encountered a variety of subjects including environmental science, chemistry and AP biology. Learning the sciences was a whole new territory. I had to learn to listen and analyze the information differently by thinking more practically and directly. The ever growing ideas and knowledge made me feel empowered and curious which only increased my love for science and as a result I made the decision to pursue biology as a major and medicine as my future. In March, of my junior year, as COVID-19 cases increased, NYC was quarantined and my education was halted. Then, on May 25th, 2020 a black man named George Floyd was murdered and the world grew with unimaginable pain, anger and sadness. The streets filled with protesters, and the media erupted in violence and bloodshed. Almost as immediately, information about how black people are viewed in every aspect of our society was being shed into the light.
I was confronted with the truth of a consistent pattern that went all the way back to the beginning of my freshman year, specifically to my science classes: all the people who made contributions to science where white cis males. I couldn't help but think how much of my education didn’t care for my needs as an Afro Latina woman, I began to realize the lack of representation in every aspect of my life, specifically my future as a biologist. I delved into all of the faces in the black community who didn't make it into my textbooks and common core lessons such as Henrietta Lacks, who gave us the first immortal cell line without her consent and whose cells helped scientists build careers and fortunes unethically; the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps who were being unknowingly experimented on for research on syphilis; John Brown, who was tortured in medical experiments to create a widely believed myth that black skin was thicker than white skin so black men and women felt less pain, and Dr. Marie Maynard Daly, who was the first black woman in the U.S to earn a PhD in chemistry.
I felt anger and frustration thinking about the toxic narratives and myths created in the medical community about black men and women. On one hand, part of me thought “how could I live contributing to the continuation of such a poisonous narrative and environment that contradicted my existence as an Afro Latina.” On the other hand, my love for biology was eternal; the never ending innovations and knowledge was exhilarating and intense. Overwhelmed with my passion for biology and (wanting to make social change), I couldn't help but notice that despite the extensive innovations and technological developments, how much the science community’s past is being reflected in the present moment as public hospitals, such as Elmhurst, were packed with hundreds of patients and families suffering with the physical and psychological effects of COVID. So many people are being disproportionately affected in the medical community because of their race in medical research, diagnoses, medications, and health care.
Soon after researching those medical inequalities, I began helping my parents in their store, where I noticed first-hand those inequalities and how COVID disproportionately affected communities of color in NYC, such as mine. In neighborhoods, such as Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, and Corona, housing is often multi-generational and crowded, so following social distancing guidelines is relatively difficult which increases our chances of getting sick. Finding reasonably priced testing for people of color and immigrants, who earn below minimum wage and hold jobs that lack full health care coverage is extremely hard in a system that is designed, both implicitly and explicitly, to exclude black Americans. Ultimately, this results in an array of inequities — including statistically shorter and sicker lives as compared to their white counterparts. I sat in my room feeling helpless but the truth was that no matter how powerless I felt, it wouldn't change anything in my community and in the health care system. So I got to work.
I began coming up with ideas for my own community and how I could make a lasting sustainable impact starting with my school. I started by actively listening to the concerns of my peers, and wondering how I could incorporate them into our school community. We began by discussing virtually what we would like to see in our classrooms and at our school, such as more representation in our common core lessons, more active listening and accountability from our peers and teachers, and more encouragement from our peers and teachers to showcase the talents of students of color. I spoke with my principal and teacher through email about how to extend more aid to our students and I came up with the idea of adding resources specifically to the Wellness Center, such as creating a group community to help students with the racism they encounter in school and to encourage them to take the appropriate next steps. I also initiated a “buddy system” where our teachers of color could participate in helping our students feel more comfortable, building a system where students could either talk to someone on the spot or anonymously file a concern they have. I want to involve parents and what they can do to contribute to their children’s community and education and I am currently working on getting funding or grants from organizations, and setting up a page on the school website where students and parents can donate.
As overwhelming as this all is, I'm excited to be a part of the change that is my generation and how we are actively changing the false narrative that is the “American Dream” into a narrative about community, acceptance, self-expression and independence. As a future biologist, my hope is to challenge the inequalities in the medical community and use the power of science to extend the feeling of enlightenment and health to others.