health – Contemporary Racism

Difficulty Setting: White

Teagan Richichi — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 18:20:32 +0000

A metaphor for life in America being White is that it’s like having the difficulty of a video game set on easy mode. I first heard this metaphor when I was a teenager, approximately in middle school or early high school, and it’s stuck with me since then. The premise is simple, and the metaphor can be expanded on. It’s not just that White is the easy setting, it’s that those who are playing at ...

Medical Racism in Healthcare Systems

Mari — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 22:35:15 +0000

A recent NBC News article discussed the removal of the J. Marion Sims statue in New York City. It talked about how symbolic actions, while important, represent only the smallest step society owes to Black communities harmed by medical racism. Beginning with this moment makes it clear how deeply rooted these issues are: taking down a statue may acknowledge past harm, but it does not repair the systems that continue to cause harm today. It ...

Protect and Serve Who?

Carolina Escobar — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 17:45:10 +0000

How do you feel about the police? Do you see them as people who are there to protect you from crime? Can you depend on them? This should be the standard and in some areas, it is. I’m sure you can guess as to what I will bring up. You know because it is a huge issue. You know because in 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police officers and it sparked a huge outrage ...

The Silent Killer: Racial Disparities in Healthcare

Lily Bernecker — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 16:27:49 +0000

Healthcare is the organized system of services aimed at improving the health of an individual, treating the sick, and supporting recovery. Sounds important, right? It sounds like something that everyone should have access to, right? Yet the reality of healthcare in the United States is a different story. Access to healthcare is a common struggle for millions of Americans, particularly those of communities of color. This unequal access is known as a disparity, an unfair ...

Health Disparities: Racism & Health Equity

Julian Chaparro — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 18:40:05 +0000

To understand health disparities that disadvantage marginalized racial communities, you need to understand health equity. It is important to understand that public health and health equity are not limited to just the medical healthcare field, as many may believe, but are both concepts are involved and are integral to the overall health of the community. While this does include access to reliable and cost-effective medical healthcare, it also means having access to clean and fresh ...

Execution & Innocence

Milanis Rivas — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 15:27:37 +0000

The 8th amendment of our Constitution clearly states “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted” upon convicted criminals. However, lethal injection remains a longstanding practice in the United States and is subject to constant debate over its ethics. Throughout American history various states have grappled with the interpretation of the death penalty and ongoing debates about its moral implications. December 7th, 1982 a convicted felon, Charles ...

Healthcare and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Silvia Mejia-Armilla — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 13:35:16 +0000

The rates at which minorities are being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are disproportional to those of white people. Healthcare has always been an area in which black families have been systemically neglected with the proper resources to remain healthy: a right that should be given to everyone. Even though it might feel a little distant to those who aren’t directly affected by the virus individually or by the poor health of a relative or ...

Double Jeopardy: COVID-19 and Racism (Wait…they’re related?)

ShellyZK — Sun, 18 Oct 2020 14:52:33 +0000

November 2019 was when the first case of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, was reported in China. January 2020 a lab confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the United States. Fast forward to today, September 2020, where there are 34.4M cases and 1.02M deaths worldwide (CDC, 2020). This led to closures, social distancing, and quarantining. People all around the world had their everyday lives shift and change. However, the coronavirus is not the only pandemic ...

White’s Anatomy

Emma Schwartz — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 18:32:13 +0000

The invisibility of whiteness has never been an issue for me until I took this class. And when I became aware of the invisibility of my race, I began to notice it explicitly in other places, specifically when it came to the media. Grey’s Anatomy is a television show that is often highly praised for its racially diverse cast of characters, and more often than not in its recent episodes, it is praised for the ...

Just an Average Model Minority

Lucy Sedlis — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 20:33:31 +0000

The model minority emphasizes that Asian Americans are more academically successful than other racial groups. This is dependent on their hard work and individual effort (Atkin et al., 2018). We tend to see Asians being good at math and science, over all excelling academically. Due to the racial discrimination associated with Asian/Asian American, those who identify as Asian/Asian America are much more susceptible to negative health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, etc (Narra ...

Resiliency in the Face of Racism

Brianna Howland — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 20:01:16 +0000

Spending four years at a college or university can widen one’s perspective, challenge previous beliefs and opinions, and provide opportunities that help them succeed. However, this does not happen through academics alone. Specifically, for students of color at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) from lower SES backgrounds, these four years can be particularly challenging because, while maintaining good grades and showing up for classes, they inevitably face social and/or financial pressures that could deeply affect their ...

Mental Health in 2018: If You’re Black, Can You Never Come Back?

Lily Josephs — Wed, 09 May 2018 12:47:31 +0000

According to a study done by the Office of Minority Health through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as adults, Black and African American males are 20 percent more likely to suffer from serious psychological distress than adult White males. It was also found that Black and African American males are more likely than White males to have feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness. According to the study, “Black/African Americans hold beliefs related ...

Social Stigma Against Black Men and Mental Health

Ashley Kemper — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 01:49:19 +0000

After engaging in an onstage rant and ending his concert prematurely, it was reported in November that rapper Kanye West had suffered a “nervous breakdown.” After going on a lengthy tirade about a personal conflict with Jay-Z and Beyoncé, West warned, “Get ready to have a field day press, ‘cause the show’s over,” dropped the microphone, and walked offstage. While the rapper’s antics have become rather commonplace and even expected, something was different this time. ...

Phenotypes & Stereotypes

Jenna Lehmann — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 20:38:19 +0000

I drive three hours almost every weekend to go home to my family, and lately I’ve been listening to podcasts to help pass the time, namely RadioLab. I came across an episode from season five simply titled “Race.” There are a lot of interesting stories featured under this topic, but one in particular has kept me thinking long after listening to it. There has been this trend circling around the internet where people reveal the ...

America’s “monumental” problems

Lauren B. — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 20:12:52 +0000

In 2008 Obama had the opportunity to speak about race with the whole world listening. He had to walk the fine line of a politically correct statement, or getting at the heart of real racial issues in our country. “Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – ...

Can we talk race and healthcare?

Simone — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 02:36:03 +0000

As we have discussed in other class sessions and reading, racism often occurs unintentionally potentiated by unconscious prejudice and stereotypes. To the extent that many people are unaware of their biases, there is little motivation for change. As a healthcare provider, I have worked in predominately white owned practices privately and publicly and have found that not only do minorities and others marginalized groups receive among other treatments, substandard medical and nursing care, but that ...

A Story of the Way Racism Manifests Itself Today

Tory — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 20:43:01 +0000

I recently spoke to my mom the other day and she told me a story about her best friend from high school that I thought was particularly interesting for purposes of our class. Her friend Carrie adopted three children from China since she was never able to have her own children. The middle child is currently a senior in high school and for the past few years has been struggling with a disorder known as ...

Sterotypes, Generalization, Prejudice and, at best, Bad Manners

Simone — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 02:12:29 +0000

Recently, I suffered a sprained shoulder and after a doctor’s visit, I was referred to physical therapy for help in rebuilding strength in my right shoulder. Let me say this right from the start, I am in no way, shape, or form a malingerer. So on my first visit, everything was about evaluating and trying to gather as much information about the injury determine the best treatment regimen for me. By the second visit, one ...

Spring Break Conversation: Racism in the Workplace

Jordan — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 13:09:54 +0000

At home over break, my parents of course wanted to hear about what use I am getting out of their tuition money and the asked me about their classes. I had the most to tell them about this one. For one thing, I have definitely done the most work and learned the most in this class in comparison with my others this semester. I also know that this subject material would be most unfamiliar to ...