It is important to remember that undoing racism is not just a matter of eliminating the expression of personal prejudices. Since the election of Barack Obama, we have indeed seen a disturbing increase in the number of such personal expressions of racism in town hall meetings and right wing talk shows and these should concern us. But the deeper issue is the social disparities that institutional racism creates in our nation.
There has not been enough attention given to the fact that people of color in the United States receive a lower quality of health care than do white Americans.
Among non-elderly adults, for example, 16% of African Americans and 17% of Hispanics report that they are only in fair or poor health, as compared with 10% of white Americans. About 30% of Hispanics and 20% of black Americans lack a usual source of health care as compared with less than 16% of whites. These statistics are supplied by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Strikingly, the state of health in the Native American population is not even mentioned.
When it comes to insurance, the statistics are similarly disparate. 37% of Hispanic men, for example, have no health insurance and People of Color are nearly twice as likely to rely on hospitals or clinics for their primary source of care than White Americans. When Americans discuss health care reform in the context of protecting their right to choose their own physician, it is important to appreciate the fact that many uninsured and under-insured people of color and a growing number of whites cannot afford this luxury and must depend upon public option care at emergency rooms and low income clinics funded by the government.
Such statistics—and there are many— make it clear that far too many people of color are left out of our social care network. The result is predictable: wellness and life expectancy are lower for blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans than for the white population. This reality doesn’t occur because individuals harbor animosity for people of color; it happens because our health care system as many other systems in our society, historically offer privileges and rewards based on race and have yet to be reformed.
The antidote to health care disparities is to treat health care as a human right, not as a commodity available to individuals based upon their ability to pay. It is our opportunity as a society to raise the bar of social caring for our neighbors so that our country excels at the task of being just, compassionate and faithful for all, especially those who are disenfranchised because of our cultural history of racism.
Peter Monkres is a member of a group, that
meets monthly on the second Thursday of
each month at 6:30 p.m. at Chicago Bay
Marketplace in Hovland. He and other
group participants will periodically provide
information on Undoing Racism in our community.
To learn more, contact Bob Carter
at (218) 387-2111 or via e-mail at drydoc@
boreal.org; or e-mail Bea Sorenson at bbsorens@
boreal.org or e-mail John Morrin at
jmorrin@boreal.org.
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