Examining Cyberbullying and Reactions to Systemic Racism (PDF)
Declarations of racism as a public health issue
Racial Equity fact sheet (PDF)
WHAT IS RACISM?
"Racism is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks (which is what we call "race"), that unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, unfairly advantages other individuals and communities, and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources."
-- APHA Past-President Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD
Racism structures opportunity and assigns value based on how a person looks. The result: conditions that unfairly advantage some and unfairly disadvantage others. Racism hurts the health of our nation by preventing some people the opportunity to attain their highest level of health.
Racism may be intentional or unintentional. It operates at various levels in society. Racism is a driving force of the social determinants of health (like housing, education and employment) and is a barrier to health equity.
To achieve health equity and create the Healthiest Nation in One Generation, we must address injustices caused by racism. We must support actions at all levels to ensure equal opportunity for all.
How do we do that? Through racial healing (#RxRacialHealing). That means using a healing and heart-centered approach to get rid of the false belief that any people are superior to others based on their skin color.
RESOURCES AND TOOLS