From Mic: “These inequalities are only the latest in a legacy of this countryâs rampant, centuries-long racism against Black Americans. Slavery was justified by the very belief that Black people are less than human, which pervaded all facets of society, including healthcare, according to the American Journal of Public Health.
From J. Marion Simsâs surgical procedures on enslaved women, without anesthesia, to the Tuskegee syphilis study, the medical establishment has a track record of violence against and exploitation of Black Americans. This dehumanization persists in healthcare even today, from the underdiagnosis of disease in Black patients to the higher maternal mortality rate among Black women compared to white women in the US, and can include even affluent Black Americans, Johnson explains in his feature in VICE about how race anchors health for Black Americans.”
