Racism, Health, and Politics: Advancing Interdisciplinary Knowledge

Abstract

Racism and health predominated political agendas across (and beyond) the United States in the spring of 2020. The simultaneous calamities of the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd by a police officer underscored the urgency and interconnectedness of racism and health. Even as COVID-19 was disproportionately devastating Black, Latina/o/x/e, Pacific Islander, and Native communities, people across the United States were participating in massive, historic protests against racialized state violence (

Empirical evidence on structural racism as a driver of racial inequities in COVID-19 mortality

“…In other words, the more racism imbedded in state-level institutions the worse Black residents fared, relative to their white counterparts. Taken together, our findings provide empirical support for research theorizing a connection between racism and COVID-19 outcomes, and add to a growing literature documenting harmful health consequences of structural racism ( 22 , 37 , 49 , 50 ).…”

“…Theory highlights how structural racism indirectly harms the health of Black people because it leads to unequal access to salubrious resources and exposure to health risks ( 11 , 18 , 19 ). In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, structural racism is thought to be an upstream cause of the downstream proximal causes (e.g., racial inequalities in underlying health conditions, economic and social deprivation, toxic living and working conditions, political exclusion, exposure to stressors, constrained autonomy and freedom, and inadequate health care) of Black-White inequities in COVID-19 mortality ( 7 , 8 , 20 – 22 ). Although a plethora of conceptual essays have hypothesized that structural racism is a driver of Black-White inequality in COVID-19 mortality ( 20 , 23 , 24 ), very few empirical studies have tested this proposition.…”

Market violence through destructive entrepreneurship: Assessing institutional responses to the proliferation of counterfeit traditional and alternative medicines in Ghana

“…This gap stems from the fact that local TAM are erroneously perceived as non-technical and non-scientific. Besides, health, in general, is ill-defined in many ways as it precludes community-level implications [ 21 ]. Pharmacists, however, do not take the major role of TAM lightly.…”

Health Equity and the Dynamism of Structural Racism and Public Policy

“…1 Although structural racism has the most profound effect on population health, the health effects of it are understudied, 2,3 and divorced from politics and policy. 4 Structural racism has previously been conceptualized and has largely focused on the criminal legal system, racial residential segregation, health care, and environmental justice. 2,3,5,6 With a few exceptions, most of the empirical research in this area has operationalized structural racism using measures of racial residential segregation and redlining with less attention to other manifestations.…”

“…R acial health inequities are well‐documented and pervasive in the United States, but there is still resistance to naming structural racism—and the resultant public policies—as the root cause of those inequities 1 . Although structural racism has the most profound effect on population health, the health effects of it are understudied, 2,3 and divorced from politics and policy 4 . Structural racism has previously been conceptualized and has largely focused on the criminal legal system, racial residential segregation, health care, and environmental justice 2,3,5,6 .…”