The Kissing Bug Quotes

“The phrase 'the great epi divide' makes me think of old paper maps and signs about who is allowed to enter and who has to stay out. It is a phrase that points to an American reality: some people are taken care of and others are not. A choice is made. The 'great epi divide' sounds more accurate to me than the more ubiquitous 'disparities in health care,' which suggests that a terrible thing has happened, but without active participation on anyone's part. Disparities arise. Inequalities exists. These words trouble but, at the same time, offer reprieve: no one is implicated. The same is true of the word 'poverty,' that knife of an abstraction. A phrase like 'diseases of poverty' obscures the degree to which we have made choices about funding for public health.”
― Daisy Hernández, The Kissing Bug