I think there’s a connection between Black vaccine hesitancy, how Black people are treated within the existing health-care system, and the need for a more diverse workforce that will treat Black people with the respect and compassion that builds trust. And I think my mother’s story illustrates this connection.

A couple of years ago, my mom broke her arm. She went to the hospital associated with her insurance. The staff at the emergency department did not take sufficient actions to control her pain. When the technicians manipulated her arm to take an X-ray, she screamed in agony until she lost consciousness.

Every trip to the hospital since then—and there have been many—has been fraught with anxiety on top of needless discomfort and pain. Why? Because she is a Black woman? The stress of being Black in America is that you don’t know.