This article is behind a paywall, though you can see the first page at the link above.
“The health care system has been complicit in perpetuating the system of racism and White supremacy in the United States. Health care disparities are rooted in institutional racism and interpersonal racism.”
Spinks-Franklin pulls no punches, and thank goodness for that. The US health care ‘system,’ broken in so many ways, uniquely fails patients of color. There are mountains of evidence, which Spinks-Franklin summarizes clearly and devastatingly. There is no counter-argument.
What then to do? Spinks-Franklin guides health care providers with the title of her piece: Wake Up. Get Woke. Stay Woke! And she directs us to specific resources! Her syllabus is 5 articles and a website. This is doable for anyone! And while it is aimed at health care providers, I think anyone with an interest in the health care system, racial justice, or the health of children would benefit.
Over the next 5 Mondays, I will be reading and reviewing these articles. I invite you to read along; bring your reflections and challenges to this space and we can learn and grow together.
Adiaha Spinks Franklin’s Wake Up. Get Woke. Stay Woke! Syllabus
Historical overview of raism in modern medicine (10/12/20): “Race, medicine, and health care in the US: a historical survey”
Check your implicit bias (10/19/20): https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit
Racism and child health (11/2/20)
Connect with patients (or students or clients or children you love…) (11/9/20): “’The Talk,’ physician version: special considerations for African American, male adolescents”