Racism and Structural Violence: Interconnected Threats to Health Equity

Mienah Zulfacar Sharif; Jennifer J García; Uchechi Mitchell; Elinam D Dellor; Natalie J Bradford; Mandy Truong

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.676783

Racism and Structural Violence: Interconnected Threats to Health Equity

Front Public Health. 2022 Feb 3:9:676783. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.676783. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Mienah Zulfacar Sharif^{1

2}, Jennifer J García³, Uchechi Mitchell⁴, Elinam D Dellor⁵, Natalie J Bradford⁶, Mandy Truong⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
² Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice and Health, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States.
³ Engage R+D, Pasadena, CA, United States.
⁴ Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
⁵ College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
⁶ Department of Health Policy & Management, University of California, Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
⁷ School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.

Abstract

In 2020, the continuing murder of Black Americans by police officers received widespread media attention and sparked global outrage. Public health responses to these events focused on discrimination by police and structural racism in broader society. However, police violence is but one of many forms of racialized violence propagated by structural racism and anti-Black racism in particular. We aim to expand the current public health dialogue by describing how structural racism and structural violence are deeply interrelated; embedded in institutions, systems, and processes; and threaten health, safety, and well-being across the life course for racialized minority groups. Structural racism and structural violence are threats to health equity and anti-racist public health work.

Keywords: anti-Black racism; equity; public health critical race praxis; racism; social epidemiology; systems-level; violence.

MeSH terms

Black or African American
Health Equity*
Humans
Racism*
Violence