Lecture Notes: Racial Disparities and Health

Clyde Murphy's Story

• Successful black civil rights lawyer from Yale class of 1970.
• Despite career success, died at 62 from a blood clot.
• High premature death rate among his black classmates.
  • Black classmates' death rate: 3x higher than average.
• Broader issue: Every 7 minutes, a black person dies prematurely in the U.S.
  • 200+ black deaths daily due to health inequalities.

Racial Health Disparities

• Economic Status and Health:
  • Economic status impacts health but doesn't fully explain racial disparities.
  • Life expectancy gap exists between blacks and whites:
    • 5-year gap at age 25.
    • Whites with less education still live longer than blacks with more education.

Racism's Impact on Health

• Research on Racism and Health:

  • Racism negatively affects health but initially lacked evidence.
  • Developed scales to measure effects of discrimination:
    • Major Discrimination Scale: Unfair treatment incidents (e.g., police stops).
    • Everyday Discrimination Scale: Subtle, daily demeaning experiences.

• Health Effects of Discrimination:

  • Linked to diseases like high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease.
  • Even young black teens show elevated stress due to discrimination.

Medical Care and Discrimination

• Discrimination in Healthcare:
  • Minorities receive poorer care than whites across treatments.
  • Implicit bias: Unconscious negative treatment of minority groups by well-intentioned individuals.

Institutional Racism and Segregation

• Residential Segregation:

  • Key driver of racial inequalities in access to resources.
  • Eliminating segregation could significantly reduce racial disparities in income, education.

• Cultural Stereotypes:

  • Negative stereotypes of blacks perpetuate discrimination.
  • Media portrays blacks with negative attributes, whites with positive ones.

Personal Reflection and Optimism

• Speaker's journey from Caribbean to U.S.
• Benefited from affirmative action; committed to dismantling racism.
• Current Racial Economic Situations:
  • Racial wealth gaps persist; black households earn significantly less than white.

Solutions and Initiatives

• Community and Institutional Efforts:

  • Boston Medical Center: Lawyers on medical teams to address socio-economic needs.
  • Loma Linda University: Job training for community health improvement.
  • The Darien Project: Daycare programs improving black children's health.

• Education and Health Initiatives:

  • Oakwood University: Health integrated into freshman orientation.
  • Purpose-built communities: Transforming segregated areas into thriving neighborhoods.

Call to Action

• Combating Bias and Discrimination:

  • Address implicit biases directly.
  • Become a ripple of hope in fighting racial injustice.

• Conclusion:

  • Necessity to dissent from racism, indifference, and apathy.
  • Emphasis on America’s ability and obligation to improve.