Who Runs the Race Life for me as a child was Disney movies and hopscotch. For many years, I viewed the world with beautiful gray glasses. I knew there was a difference in the color of my skin and others but had no understanding how that would affect me. Upon reaching the age of adolescence, my understanding of racism developed. Racism is like the “elephant in the room” that no one wants to address. For this research assignment, I would like to research and write about how racial discrimination is impacting health.
The impact of racial discrimination on mental health is important to me because there is a burden on my heart to create solutions for people affected by mental illness. Mental illness is not a disease for crazy people; it affects millions of people every day. Great philosophers developed theories that helped cultivate systems that have shaped our world. I want to build and oversee social programs and organizations. For me to implement systems for mental health
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I could argue with a lot of statistics and factual data about the negative effects of racial discrimination. Or I could present case studies on the correlation of stress and race. This topic is very broad, and it gives me room to take different approaches. I’m looking forward to finding strong solutions that I will present in the Claim of Policy essay.
Focusing on one problem of racial discrimination will be a challenge. There are so many related controversies because the topic is broad. However, being that the topic is broad, there is a lot of supportive data out there. There are tons of scholarly articles, dissertations, and surveys. Another challenge will be sticking to facts to support my arguments. I have not done any research writing assignments. I have only written narratives and personal essays, but I will take my time and gather a lot of data to achieve a successful research
Racism imposes additional health issues on people of color because it is an unnecessary stressor in their every day lives. “African Americans die earlier and have higher rates than whites of many chronic diseases across the social gradient” (Unnatural Causes, 2008). Increased cortisol levels, which are caused by stress have been linked to high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and other health problems.
This chapter go into how racism can have negative effect your job search workplace, career and even your earnings. It discuss how mental health influences things on the job, such as the turnover rate.
One source to support my research is a scholarly article that discusses the subject of racism in the health world, as well as how that negatively affects a patient’s health making them another statistic. The author clearly states “There are well documented racial disparities in health care as well as health status” (4). I plan to use this source to set the tone for the research, this article answers the basic questions about the relationship between racism and health gaps. The next piece is also a scholarly article, that focuses on the effects of health disparities on children. This article is vital for this research project because many individuals who grow up to have health issues related to disparities, encounter racism and develop the health issues. These children then grow up and are likely to have children
The physical and mental ramifications of racial discrimination have been the subjects of scholarly inquiry. Health disparities between different racial groups have been well established in the literature (Williams, 2003). Specifically, scholars have examined the disparate death rates between African Americans and White Americans (Kung, Hoyert, Xu & Murphy, 2008), racial differences in blood pressure (Williams & Neighbors, 2001), and racial differences in cardiovascular disease (Wyatt et al., 2003). Furthermore, researchers have investigated the role of everyday discrimination on self-rated physical health among Latina/os (Molina, Alegria, & Mahalingam, 2013). To address the issue, the authors examined data collected from the National Latina/o
“African Americans have the worst health profile. Disparities in health status are well documented and widely known. However, research on race, ethnicity, and health is controversial. The reason for this is probably linked to the thorny role that race has played in American history and contemporary culture. Because of this history, race engenders emotion, and emotion is the antidote to rationality. Some have called for the end of research on race and health” (Isaac, L pg.
Racial inequality and discrimination is a major factor that is still present in America’s society today. Considering the fact that America’s history of racial complications is still an issue in today’s society. Minorities (African American, Asian Americans, Hispanics/Latinos) which is accounted for almost half of the population if combined, are the ones that face discrimination the most, typically everywhere they go and especially in the workforce. They are not treated as equally as everyone else and for that, it is a problem that should never be overlooked.
The African-American community has suffered sufficiently in the United States, and still continues to suffer in terms of social and economic aspects. The existence of cultural oppression negatively affects minorities and continuously reduces the ability to purposefully improve and successfully thrive. A substantial amount of questions could be arranged when engaging in a sensitive topic about race, oppression, or material that is
Some people have the option to have a great health care system and reinsure that their well being is being greatly taken care of. However, this is not the case for others. African Americans are proved to have the worst health outcomes (Golash-Boza, 2015). Throughout history, African Americans have always been discriminated based on skin color. Because of this disadvantage African Americans are more prone to stress, leading to negative health outcomes (Golash-Boza, 2015). Discrimination can lead to stress, stress leads to stressful conditions such as poverty, crime, or poor housing. These stressful conditions can lead to unhealthy behaviors such as illegal crime, smoking, or substance use (Golash-Boza,2015). Due to the stressful resources African Americans are dealing with they can deal with these situations by eating unhealthy foods, therefore, causing a negative health outcome. Racism and health are indeed correlated with one another. As stated by Golash-Boza in Race and Racisms, “racial discrimination continues to be prevalent in our society and leads to negative health outcomes for people of color”. Overall racism can affect health in many ways. Those who live in poor neighborhoods, racial bias in medical care, the stress of experience of discrimination, and the social brand of inferiority can have consequences for health (Williams, 1999). Race can be a big factor in the type
Race has been a dominant, defining factor in both the 20th and 21st centuries. It has been a reason for missed job opportunities, unequal treatment, harassment, and even murder. In today’s society, race discrimination is still having a heavy effect on the lives of individuals with different colors of skin. Although some progress has been made, the treatment of different races can be brutal still today. There are stories featured in the news everyday about the mistreatment of an African American or the stereotypical harassment of a hispanic person. What has improved, is the way society is handling these relations and discriminations of race. This improvement is clear when you compare the treatment of the victim in the 1930’s
Since the discovery of the America; slavery, separate but equal; segregated pools, buses, trains and water fountains; workplace and housing discriminations; as well as other biases and hostilities have served as the painful reality of the United States’ racial health, especially for African Americans, more so those living in Southern States; Let not forget about the beatings, bombings and assassinations.
Kaori Fujishiro had a research in which investigated whether racial privilege was associated with personal health. In Fjishiro’s article, the author discussed how Racial discrimination is discussed more than Racial privilege. He did a study to note how racial privilege can have an affect on personal health.
In 20 years, for African Americans to be as likely as whites to graduate from college many things will have to occur; although all of this things go back to the same root, racism. Racial discrimination causes African Americans to have lower health care, rough housing, and less opportunities. Racism affects African American’s health care due to the fact that many African Americans live in poverty; due to this, they have the highest rates of infant mortality, compared to all other ethnicities. Dealing with racism on a daily basis, has been proven to be highly stressful and affects both mental and physical health, which can be discouraging.
Race contributes to racial differences in health identified multiple ways in which racism initiates and sustains health disparities. Stress, anxiety, and other health issues can affect a migrant person because they might feel overwhelmed to be in a new place. These are some of the basic factors, that can contribute to deteriorating health for many migrant people. These factors can be leading to use tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs. Different races do not have the proper health care, like the whites do and I believe that segregation has a big part and impact on those groups rather than whites because they live under a level of segregation that is higher than them. As stated in Rethinking the Color Line by Charles A. Gallagher ”Studies
Have we asked ourselfs how prejudice and discrimination has elevated so much throughout this new century & how it affects people of color up to this day? Every day in current society many individulas try destroying a person or group of color to simple self justify an issue. Vincent Parrillo professor of Sociology argues behavioral prejudice amongst colored people and the possible causes of prejudice on the article, “Causes of Prejudice”, published in 2004. Michelle Alexander a graduate from Stanford law of school states diverse arguments based on the struggle colored or minor groups of people with problems face during their lifes, in her, “The Jim Crow”, publication,
thought they had hit a “post-racial” milestone when Barack Obama became the first African American president. But racial discrimination still continues to be a problem for the people of color in the United States. Experiences of discrimination are a form of stress that can have serious implications for mental and physical health, ranging from depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder to all-cause mortality and hypertension(Cause, Effects and Future Impacts of Racism1). Consequently, the lives of millions of people who are affected by racism are suffering in silence and are developing chronic mental illnesses. According to the Chan School of Public Health, the current research has shown inconsistencies in different studies representing the African Americans who are affected by racism today and certain files have been historically ignored not giving fair trials to those who are affected. With unfair trials come with unfair consequences given to the person who did no wrong in the situation like jail time, certain rights taken away, and possibly death. Racial supremacists around the world need to let the past go and start focusing on the new beginnings that are being created.