Maybe my decades of activism on this
have begun to frustrate me a bit but I've
been wondering - exactly what are we
celebrating?
If
hearing about the long struggles toward racial
justice bothers you, read no further.
If
a Black woman venting about generations of
innumerable good people sacrificing toward
equality and equity while so much remains
grotesquely undone and unfair is annoying to
you, skip my jeremiad.
Don’t
get me wrong, as a Black woman, I fully
acknowledge and appreciate those who’ve gone
before, above, and beyond, and provided the
mentorship and bravery that allows me to even
exist. I am forever grateful to my mother and
Cheryl Boyce who started and led the very
first ever office of minority health back in
Ohio, and whose voices for health equity
provide a template for health justice in a
country struggling to achieve its democratic
promise.
I
appreciate my parents for the nonviolent but
assertive civil disobedience and human rights
struggles they engaged in with class,
humility, and academic rigor that made
significant strides in my hometown, providing
recognized leadership for future generations.
I
revere and respect Martin King, Sidney
Poitier, Hazel Scott, Patricia Hogue, Jane
Elliott and the myriad other activists,
mentors, educators, martyrs, lost souls, and
of course those still living and fighting in
the struggles to overcome racism--bending the
moral arc of the universe toward justice.
But
I am at the same time still grieving the losses that
continue to pile up:
·police
gun violence accounting for 135
deaths
of unarmed black people since
2015
alone · disproportionate
incarcerations
despite similar crime rates
across
ethnicities costs billions of dollars
(better
spent on universal education or
healthcare!?)
to all Americans and garner
the
US the dubious distinction of having
the
most people imprisoned in the world.
Despite
having one of the most expensive healthcare
systems in the world, Black
maternal and
neonatal mortality is or should be a source of
national shame at several times that of other
countries
Other
data are copious, distressing, available and
as longstanding as these and needn't be
belabored here.
In
light of these statistics, I am wondering:
exactly what are we celebrating?
There
is good news as states and municipalities
across the country are beginning to recognize
that racism
is a public health crisis,
even though I wrote personally and as a
healthcare professional to CDC back in 2015
asking them to do so and was gaslighted by the
very head of the Office of Minority Health and
Health Equity to whom I spoke directly on the
matter. Her response was, “Just what do you
want us to do about it?” When I responded,
“Simply announce and recognize it to start the
process!” she refused.
Now,
as the outgoing head of CDC, Dr. Rochelle
Walensky has recognized it as “a serious
public health issue.” At what point does an
issue become a crisis? When the population in
question is White? When the cost exceeds a
certain amount? Because here is what the
National Institutes of Health finds:
New
research shows that the economic burden of
health disparities in the United States
remains unacceptably high. The study, funded
by the National Institute on Minority Health
and Health Disparities (NIMHD), part of the
National Institutes of Health, revealed that
in 2018, racial and ethnic health disparities
cost the U.S. economy $451 billion, a 41%
increase from the previous estimate of $320
billion in 2014.
Would
it need to cost more than that? How many lives
would it take?
I
have spoken to current thought leaders like
David R. Williams, Camara Jones, Christina
Bethel, Jane Elliott and Rev. James Lawson
about these issues and they remind me that “at
least we are beginning to have these difficult
conversations.” Is that worth celebrating?
Maybe
my decades of activism on this have begun to
frustrate me a bit--so much striving yet so
many glaring disparities remain. I started a
petition online calling on those of good will
to join my voice to CDC for their recognition
and at least have nearly 17K signatures. Is
that worth celebrating?
I
have provided clinical guidance and leadership
to the Oregon Health Equity Task Force for HB
4052 which at least recognizes racism’s public
health crisis in Oregon and at long last
authorizes a fraction of the budget we
requested to begin to address this. Is it
irony or cynicism that the legislature
acknowledges the crisis and then dithers for a
year or so in making a relatively small amount
of funding available? Is that worth
celebrating?
In medicine, before
a cure can be
undertaken, the
diagnosis must be
disclosed, discussed
and questions and
answers exchanged.
How can we hope to
cure, repair,
mitigate the centuries of
damages done by
racism when we
cannot even
officially and unequivocally
make the diagnosis?
And as opponents
and advocates for
reparations debate
across this nation,
I must also ask: How
can we repair that
which is still being
harmed?
