Anti-Racist Health Care: Correcting Structural Racism in Medicine
Anti-Racist Health Care: Correcting Structural Racism in Medicine
The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the pervasive racial disparities in America’s health care system — from coverage to treatment to outcomes — that exist for Black and Latino communities.
A 2017 study by the Center for American Progress concluded these disparities resulted from decades of inequality in not just our health care systems, but our economic and social systems. Dr. Brittani James, co-founder of The Institute for Antiracism in Medicine and assistant professor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, says that while many people think of racism as simply a set of ideas and acts, it’s much more entrenched in society than the interpersonal.
“Racism and white supremacy mean that the people writing policy and making the rules in our society are largely straight, white men,” James said. “They create policy in their image. The lack of diverse leadership in our country means there is no one to account for their blind spots — and they have many — with devastating results.”
Read more at: WTTW
A 2017 study by the Center for American Progress concluded these disparities resulted from decades of inequality in not just our health care systems, but our economic and social systems. Dr. Brittani James, co-founder of The Institute for Antiracism in Medicine and assistant professor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, says that while many people think of racism as simply a set of ideas and acts, it’s much more entrenched in society than the interpersonal. “Racism and white supremacy mean that the people writing policy and making the rules in our society are largely straight, white men,” James said. “They create policy in their image. The lack of diverse leadership in our country means there is no one to account for their blind spots — and they have many — with devastating results.”
