Dear readers,
This week, the country erupted in demonstrations for racial justice against police brutality, even as the coronavirus pandemic persisted nationwide. As Black Americans in particular find themselves fighting multiple threats to their safety and well-being, writer Nylah Burton spoke to experts about how it's impossible to discuss health, especially right now, without discussing systemic racism — and how we cannot heal the wounds of systemic racism without identifying and dismantling the infrastructure supporting it. Racism is a pervasive social outrage, Nylah writes, one that touches every area of racialized people’s lives, especially Black and Indigenous people. Police brutality, environmental racism, and the psychological toll of racial aggression are all health issues. “Recognizing racism as a public health emergency brings additional resources and a spotlight on the importance of eradicating racism," said Dr. Lauren Powell, who leads TIME’S UP’s work to end harassment and discrimination in health care. "It also makes it clear that it’s not the job of those who experience racism’s impacts to dismantle racism.”
Here's how one state is trying to declare racism a public health emergency, and why it is crucial to understand that racial health disparities are intentional, and therefore preventable.
What do you think? We'd love to hear from you. Cheers, Laura, Amanda and Kyla |
