'Sleep is racist': Teen Vogue explains how two women are addressing systemic racism in sleep

First things first: A day or two ago Christina Sommers tweeted that you couldn’t tell the difference anymore between headlines in the New York Times and headlines in Teen Vogue. Now, thanks to Future Female Leaders, you can see for yourself if you can tell the difference:

QUIZ: Who Published These Headlines? New York Times or Teen Vogue? https://t.co/toHAteU3qi

— Future Female Leaders (@FFL_of_America) July 15, 2020

Got 5 only by luck. It was tricky because both seem to be one the same page.

— Juan Rangel (@Smanjcr) July 15, 2020

Got 5 purely through guessing – absolutely impossible to tell the difference between them.

— Proud Texan (@BecomeATexan) July 15, 2020

I got 7! Super surprised I got that many!

— Madeleine (@madeluna24601) July 15, 2020

11/13….it wasn’t that difficult, when you realize this is how you indoctrinate young women.

— Kimberly de Burgos (@KimberlydeBurg1) July 15, 2020

We’ve already given it away in our own headline, so yes, this is Teen Vogue: “Black Power Naps Is Addressing Systemic Racism in Sleep.” Time to update that list of things that are racist, like chess, milk, the coronavirus, and L.A. freeways.

This is not satire. Sleep is racist.https://t.co/2LM8OZzcrd

— Gad Saad (@GadSaad) July 16, 2020

We give up … how is sleep racist? Brittney McNamara reports:

Fannie Sosa and Navild Acosta were tired, but it wasn’t just any old fatigue. Yes, they experienced a lack of sleep, but they were specifically experiencing a generational fatigue familiar to Black people and people of color. From this sleeplessness, the two created Black Power Naps.

“It came from understanding that the American dream is a sleepless one,” Sosa said. “ We inherited this exhaustion.”

…

“We’re dealing with an inheritance of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation was a…deliberate tactic of slave owners to basically make the mind feeble,” he said. “That same tactic has only evolved.”

To help resolve this chronic lack of sleep, Acosta and Sosa are calling for rest as reparations. Yes, they’re looking for an ease to the many burdens that might prevent Black people and people of color from sleeping like systemic racism, socioeconomic struggle, and more. But they’re also looking for the opportunity to rest and have leisure time — time that will allow people to dream and heal.