From our May 20 2021 webinar

1. Racial Injustice
and
Health Equity –
A Call to Action
Digital Transformation of the
Social Determinants of Health
Yvette Highsmith Francis
1

2. Structural Racism
2
Structural racism is defined as the macro-level systems, social forces, institutions, ideologies, and processes
that interact with one another to generate and reinforce inequities among racial and ethnic groups (Powell
2008).
The term structural racism emphasizes the most influential socioecologic levels at which racism may affect
racial and ethnic health inequities. Structural mechanisms do not require the actions or intent of individuals
(Bonilla-Silva 1997).
As fundamental causes, they are constantly reconstituting the conditions necessary to ensure their
perpetuation (Link 1995). Even if interpersonal discrimination were completely eliminated, racial inequities
would likely remain unchanged due to the persistence of structural racism (Jones 2000).
Du Bois Rev. 2011 Apr; 8(1): 115–132. | doi: 10.1017/S1742058X11000130

3. 6
Merriam-Webster defines
"a belief that race is the primary determinant of human
traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an
inherent superiority of a particular race."

4. Support policies that address
systemic racism and poverty
3
Earned Income Tax
Credit and Child Tax
Credit Have Powerful
Anti-Poverty Impact
Millions of people lifted out of poverty or
made less poor by EITC and Child Tax
Credit, 2018
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP.org
Lifted out of poverty
Made Less Poor
All persons Children
10.6
17.5 5.5
6.4
28.1 Million
11.9 Million

5. Racial Justice is the Goal
5
Image: Vicky Leta/Mashable

6. 4

7. Police Violence and Health
7
Frequent media reports of incidents of police violence
directed to Black, Latino and Native American communities
These are stressors that negatively affect health
of the larger community
Recent national, quasi-experimental study
Police killings of unarmed Blacks lead to decline in mental
health among Blacks in general population for 3 months
after the event
No affect on Whites
Bor, Venkataramani, Williams & Tsai, The Lancet, 2018

8. Weathering and the
impact of discrimination
“The stressors that impact people of color are
chronic and repeated though their whole life
course, and in fact may even be at their
height in young adult through middle adult
ages rather than early life. And that increase
in general health vulnerability is what
weathering is”
- Arline Geronimus
8

9. “…Discrimination is a hellhound that
gnaws at Negroes in every waking
moment of their lives declaring that the
lie of their inferiority is accepted as the
truth in the society dominating them.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. [1967]
9

10. Equity is the Goal
10
Diffen.com
Equal Equity

11. The Path Forward
11
WHAT
will
YOU
do?