Yo is this Racist Podcast – Ali Ange, Madi Shenkel

Transcript:

Ali: Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s episode of Yo is this racist? I’m Ali Ange 

Madi: and i’m Madi Shenkel

Ali: And we are here to talk to you guys and inform you on the topic of racism in health care and how this is affecting African American individuals in their day-to-day lives.

Madi: Thank you, Ali, We will be kicking this off by first introducing some important key terms,  such as systemic, injustice, racism, and systemic racism.

Ali: We will be diving a little deeper into these terms and how they are being used today.

Madi: The first term we will be covering is systemic. The definition revealed in Merriam Webster dictionary states that systemic is “of or relating to an entire system”. The next term we’ll be covering is Racism. The definition that comes from Oxford Languages states that Racism is “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership to a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized”. 

Ali: Thank you for that definition Madi. This then leads us into learning the true meaning of systemic racism and how this affects individuals. According to the Fair Fight Initiative, systemic racism unfairly elevates white people over everyone else. It influences how people are treated by the justice system, but it can also affect housing, education, health care, hiring processes, and many other things in their lives. Systemic racism is not always obvious, although it certainly can be. The Jim Crow Laws were one of the most obvious examples of this. Systemic racism can even be unconscious and it helps create inequality.

Madi: Yah ali, your right and I completely agree, I believe that systemic racism can happen without realization of the harm and/or distraught toward people that it can cause. 

Ali: It is so sad and heartbreaking to not only hear but to see systemic racism within these environments. 

Madi: As we broaden our knowledge on systemic racism, I would like to touch on an article that was posted by Medical News, it states that a study found that unfair treatment of people of color has a significant consequential effect on sleep and physiological functioning in midlife. Many studies have cited structural racism within medical care as a key factor in poor physical health. For example, a 2016 study into racial bias and pain management found a link between undertreating pain in Black patients and false biological beliefs, such as, “Black people’s skin is thicker than white people’s skin.

Ali: This was a great example of systemic racism and definitely shows how something so small can have a large impact on a person physically as well as mentally. Looking into the bigger picture, and current events that have shown racial injustice as well as systemic injustices, we see that racial bias within health care has been a major problem today, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic. 

Madi: I completely agree. Throughout this past year during the COVID-19 pandemic, African American patients have entered the health care system with distinct disadvantages which are seen as a systemic injustice today.

Ali: After looking through many articles, one that stood out to me the most was from the New York Times. This article had conveyed that decades of research shows that black patients receive inferior medical care compared to white patients and they also have less access to quality healthcare. This was shown this past year throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with African Americans being denied a say in regards to medical resources such as ventilators. 

Madi: First of all, that is absolutely devastating and this just shows that this is an example of a systemic injustice and has greatly affected the African American community throughout not only receiving medical care but for people within the medical field having some sort of human decency to understand that humans should be treated equally no matter their race.

Ali: So I would love to just talk briefly about an article that had covered some of the major effects of African Americans’ injustices within health care and how they had dealt with and had to work around these circumstances. I read an article by the medical news today and they covered many of the statistics regarding African Americans’ ability to receive health care and how racism within health care is constantly affecting their overall health. 

Madi: The article is a great example of systemic injustices within health care and allows people around the world to gain knowledge on this topic to hopefully find and fight for a change within the healthcare system. I believe that these statistics regarding African Americans within the COVID 19 pandemic are valid and I also believe it is very crucial to understand the position that these individuals are placed in when it comes to receiving medical help.

Ali: Yes! We see that African Americans were 3.57 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white people. So what is your outlook on this and why do you think such a large number of people have to face these challenges?

Madi: I believe that African Americans are put at an unfair advantage and these challenges that they are facing suppress their rights to have access to the best medical care, just as anyone else does, the color of their skin should have no impact on that. 

Ali: I completely agree, this issue has been seen in many cases all over the world and shows how great the mistreatment of African Americans really is which is affecting their ability to live an equal and fair life just as anyone else of a different race would.  

Madi: After researching all of the challenges that many African Americans face when working to receive the best medical attention it allows people to realize the long-lasting effects that may come as a result of these difficulties. Some of the effects include physical and mental health, their careers, and their livelihoods.

Ali: That’s very true Madi, these things leave very large impacts on people every day and many people don’t think twice about how devastating that can be for families. So many people around the world try so hard to make it past those difficult circumstances that are put against them and many are unable to do so. 

Madi: Physical and mental health are very serious issues that should be talked about more often in society than it really is..

Ali: Yes, and that is why we are here. Our jobs are to tell the world the things that other people are way too scared to.

Madi: And that is exactly what we are doing. One article that I read recently does exactly that and shows some of the serious problems that stem from racism itself. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that the data shows that racial and ethnic minority groups, throughout the United States, experience higher rates of illness and death across a wide range of health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, and heart disease, when compared to their White counterparts. Additionally, the life expectancy of non-Hispanic/Black Americans is four years lower than that of White Americans. The COVID-19 pandemic itself and its disproportionate impact among racial and ethnic minority populations is another stark example of these enduring health disparities that people go through.

Ali: Wow, that article made some really great points and I truly believe that there are so many different ways to help solve this ongoing issue. The problem is getting everyone to understand how big this issue really is.

Madi: I wish that it was just as easy as telling people about it and then the whole problem would be solved. But it’s not. Although we are going to try, by giving some good advice to help with the main issues that people are dealing with in these trying times.

Ali: That is exactly right. We have both discussed this issue before and have agreed upon a few things that could help to stop this systematic injustice from harming any more people in the future.

Madi: The first idea that we came up with is to start early on educating people about this topic. Educating people is a great way to inform them of the many consequences that come from racism and the difficulties that African Americans face because of it. 

Ali: I wish that this was talked about more, then maybe more people would understand and it would not be as traumatic for African Americans today. We also decided that another way to help fix this issue is to take a deeper look at laws that affect healthcare for these African Americans.

Madi: That’s true, many laws that are still enforced today have underlying racist values and nobody ever seems to talk about them. The laws themselves have been around for a very long time, but they’ve never been changed or altered to work in today’s society, and the society that we live in today is very different from what it used to be. The laws themselves are being looked at in some states because COVID-19 has brought light to the issues. 

Ali: Solving these issues is a very important way to help these African Americans through the even harder times of the pandemic. I read one article that I found to be very interesting regarding the small changes that are beginning to be made in legislation today. The article by the National Conference of State Legislatures said that In the wake of COVID-19, and the evidence highlighting health disparities among historically underserved populations, several states have changed data reporting these requirements, increased equitable access to referral systems, required different state executive branch agencies to study, update and implement policies that address health disparities where applicable, and issued executive orders and declared racism as a public health crisis. 

Madi: Wow, I love that that is going on these days. This article was a really great example of a major issue in racism that could be solved in such a reasonably simple way.

Ali: Well that’s all the time we have today for this episode. Madi, do you mind doing a quick review of everything we have learned and covered in today’s episode. 

Madi: Of course! Throughout this whole episode, we have discussed some major problems in the healthcare system and how that has led to a large systemic injustice. How the effects of these injustices destroy families and how there are long-lasting effects of systemic racism in the healthcare system. What we really need to do is get everyone around the world to truly understand the difficulties. Once people understand, is when the real work truly begins in stopping the injustices. If every listener takes away one thing from this episode I truly hope that it is to just treat everyone equally whether that is in the healthcare system or just in your daily lives. 

Ali: I hope this episode helped you learn some important facts that can aid others in the future and help people cope with these difficulties. Please drop any comments or concerns that you have down below and don’t forget to subscribe and look out for our new episode next week.

Madi: Thanks for listening 

Ali: PEACE!!!

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/us/coronavirus-african-americans-bias.html  

https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/racism-disparities/index.html

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/racism-in-healthcare 

https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/health-disparities-laws.aspx