Last Friday, my team and I were privileged to give a talk about systemic racism and its impact on communities of color during COVID-19. The talk was based on a manuscript that we submitted to the Nevada Journal of Public Health. It’s important to have this discussion because contrary to popular belief, the legacy of racism is still very much alive in many of the policies that were (and sometimes still are) put into effect by governmental entities. For example, when you look at ‘redlining’, which was an official US federal government policy that encouraged the disinvestment in and disenfranchisement of Black and Latinx communities until 1964, we can see how this officially codified policy influences health in these communities today. Redlined communities frequently are food deserts, have higher rates of all chronic diseases, have poorer schools, less investment by business, lack healthcare, and frequently face a higher burden of environmental threats such as the urban heat island effect. COVID-19 just magnified and exacerbated the impacts of all of these conditions. America is only going to be as healthy as its weakest communities and in order to achieve optimal health for all, we will have to deal with the legacy of systemic racism. Starts with acknowledging that it exists and having hard conversations about it.
To view the webinar, please click here: HEWS May 21, 2021: The Impact of Systemic Racism on Public Health: COVID-19 and Communities of Color
