New Zealand’s Treasury has developed the Living Standards Framework (LSF) to create an index of wellbeing to gauge whether government policies support a society where “people can live lives they have reason to value.”
When we say we cannot afford quality child care for all, culturally supportive birth options, and fair housing, we are being disingenuous. What we are saying is that we prefer to spend the money in other ways.
Punishment culture encourages the view that an individual deserves harm — that the individual person is a “bad” person. Punishment marks someone as not worthy of belonging.
Messages of “Black girl magic” are not pro-Black women. They are reflections of a culture that continues to see exceptional individualism as the solution, rather than part of the larger problem.
