Racism plays role in health of American youth
23rd December 2019 · 0 Comments
By Meghan Holmes
Contributing Writer
Racism plays a major role in the health and well-being of youth in America, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
In a recent policy statement, the AAP declared that racism “has a profound impact on the health status of children, adolescents, emerging adults, and their families.”
The health organization is the first of its kind to explicitly recognize racism as a social determinant of health, something the executive director of the National Coalition for Health Equity, Dr. Gail Christopher, called “groundbreaking.”
“The public health community has been up front about naming racism as a factor in health for a long time, but this is the first public statement from a medical entity that calls for specific policy actions and presents a comprehensive and evidence-based position,” she said. “I see it as revolutionary, and hope to see a cascade effect where other clinicians really say, ‘racism is a problem.’”
Social determinants of health, like where people are born and where they age, have been linked to avoidable health inequities in different populations. Economic and social conditions, including racism, drive these inequities, as opposed to individual behavioral choices or genetic predisposition. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ statement works to correct these inequities, addressing racism directly and providing a framework through which pediatricians can make sure their clinics are fair and equitable spaces.
“It’s important to do this now, because we are living in a country where the majority of pediatricians are white, and the majority of children are nonwhite,” Dr. Christopher said. “This demographic imperative, coupled with the rise in hate crimes and overtly expressed racist, hateful and anti-immigrant sentiment, creates urgency for protective, harm mitigating actions now. We have to get rid of these antiquated 17th century notions of racial difference.”
AAP’s statement advises pediatricians to examine their own biases, as well as those of their staff, integrating training in culturally-competent care into their practices, to better serve patients of all races and backgrounds. The group also recommends internal audits to analyze quality of care and patient satisfaction by race.
The statement also addresses racism as a social construct throughout American history, illustrating the development of a racial hierarchy enforced across the United States that continues to disenfranchise people of color.
In order to dismantle that hierarchy, Dr. Christopher has developed her own type of racial healing circle she calls Rx Racial Healing.
“The idea for healing circles goes back decades, but I have developed my own comprehensive method that focuses on people having authentic experiences with a diverse group,” she said. “Each circle is co-facilitated by two people, and we gather people who perceive one another as different to experience authentic narratives and break down those ideas of difference. Everyone’s voice is heard and it serves as a sort of model for a desired state of being, where people from different backgrounds have positive interactions with one another.”
Rx Racial Healing events are happening across the country, including a January concert on the National Day of Racial Healing held at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans. More recently, Dr. Christopher traveled to Dallas and organized workshops and healing circles in the wake of Atatiana Jefferson’s shooting in Fort Worth. A white police officer shot Jefferson, who was Black, inside her home.
“The original plan was to do a series of workshops to train co-facilitators,” Christopher said, “but in the wake of the shooting, only days later, we felt heightened emotions, and a heightened sense of urgency. It reminded us how important racial reconciliation work is, and how needed it remains. I trained participants on how to recreate the work we did there in their own communities.”
The success of Dr. Christopher’s racial healing efforts doesn’t solely impact the African-American community. Fear and anxiety arising from concern over racial difference also fuels negative health outcomes amongst white Americans.
“Racism contributes to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, and diabetes,” she said. “As a whole, our population has a shorter life span as well as poorer health when compared to peer nations. Our residual belief in a false hierarchy of humanity is a major contributing factor to our poor health outcomes.”
In addition to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association for the Education of Young Children also recently released a new position statement advocating for increased equity in education and explicitly calling on educators to examine their own biases and work to create a more inclusive learning environment.
“In some ways, the two statements are similar,” Christopher said. “I think this is a watershed moment where people across the country are saying we have to do better for the nation’s children. We have to get beyond this social construct and see people equally, so that we can make equality real in policy, practice and lived experience.”
This article originally published in the December 23, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
