Racism and Structural Violence: Interconnected Threats to Health Equity

Abstract

In 2020, the continuing murder of Black Americans by police officers received widespread media attention and sparked global outrage. Public health responses to these events focused on discrimination by police and structural racism in broader society. However, police violence is but one of many forms of racialized violence propagated by structural racism and anti-Black racism in particular. We aim to expand the current public health dialogue by describing how structural racism and structural violence are deeply interrelated; embedded in institutions, systems, and processes; and threaten health, safety, and well-being across the life course for racialized minority groups. Structural racism and structural violence are threats to health equity and anti-racist public health work.

“I'm sick of being called a hero – I want to get paid like one”: Filipino American frontline workers' health under conditions of COVID-19 and racial capitalism

“…So I think that's a very big problem, and you know the management, they don't really appreciate you at the end of the day, and they expect you to even [work] overtime. (Food service worker, female, [25][26][27][28][29] I think during COVID, we were always complaining like, Why are we still open? I remember being slightly annoyed, and being scared when I had to come into work.…”

“…As articulated by Bright et al ( 21 ): “The theory of racial capitalism proposes an origin story for how it is that the global economy came to be racially stratified and (in the main) organized along capitalist lines” (p. 1). Given legacies of colonialism and imperialism that have depended on the extraction and exploitation of labor, land, and resources of Indigenous people, enslaved Africans, and other racialized peoples, racial capitalism is a relevant framework across racially minoritized workers ( 22 , 23 ), and offers a historical lineage and context for understanding the interdependence of racism and class oppression as a fundamental cause of disease ( 24 ) and form of structural violence influencing health ( 25 ).…”

Structural violence: An evolutionary concept analysis

“…A paradigmatic shift from exploratory to emancipatory research approaches by diverse health disciplines may support the exploration of intersectional identities and contextual nuances that govern the unique lived experiences of society's most vulnerable. An intersectionality framework (Crenshaw, 1991) is ideally suited to guide such transformational change, illuminating the reciprocal and compounding relationships between individuals and larger systems of power (Sharif et al, 2022). Through advocacy efforts that promote empowerment and agency among marginalized populations, there exists an opportunity to dismantle structural causes of health inequity and rebuild thriving communities in the aftermath of tragedy.…”

Commentary: Racism and structural violence: Interconnected threats to health equity

“…Sharif et al's recent publication in “Frontiers in Public Health” highlights the need for collective efforts to address structural racism and violence ( 1 ). We extend this work by emphasizing the need for solidarity between Black and Asian Americans in strategies to combat anti-Asian racism 1 .…”