Discrimination, Racial Justice, and Community Health The House that Racism Built

2. Discrimination, Racial Justice, and Community HealthThe House that Racism Built David R. Williams, PhD, MPH Florence & Laura Norman Professor of Public Health Professor of African & African American Studies and of Sociology Harvard University

3. Patterns of America’s Health What are the Problems?

4. We Are Not the Healthiest • U.S. ranks near the bottom of industrialized countries on health, and we are losing ground • 1980 = 11th on Life Expectancy • 2014 = 35th on Life Expectancy • U.S. Ranked behind South Korea, Greece, Cyprus, Cuba and Lebanon • And it is not just the minorities doing badly! • In 2014, White America would be = 34th • In 2014, Black America would be 96th

5. LifeExpectancyRanking,2014 Source:UNDPDevelopmentFund

6. LifeExpectancyRanking,2014 Source:UNDPDevelopmentFund; National Vital Statistics Reports, 2015

7. A Larger Context for Disparities There are large racial, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities in health but they should be understood within the context of the larger national disparity All Americans are far less healthy than we could, and should be

8. There are Persisting Racial Inequities

9. Life Expectancy Lags, 1950-2010 78.8 77.6 76.1 74.4 74.7 71.7 71.4 70.6 69.1 69.1 68.2 64.1 63.6 60.8 Source: NCHS, Health United States, 2013

10. Making Sense of Racial Inequities

11. The House that Racism Built • Racism • Ideology of inferiority • Institutional • Cultural • Social Forces • Political • Legal • Economic • Religious • Cultural • Historical Events

12. Racism Defined • Racism: an organized system, premised on the categorization and ranking of social groups into races and devalues, disempowers and differentially allocates desirable societal opportunities and resources to racial groups regarded as inferior • The development of racism is typically undergirded by an ideology of inferiority in which some population groups are regarded as being inferior to others. • This leads to the development of negative attitudes and beliefs toward racial out-groups (prejudice and stereotypes), and differential treatment of these groups by individuals and social institutions (discrimination) Bonilla-Silva, 1996; Williams 2004

13. Individual vs Institutional Racism

14. Individual Bias: Waiting at Crosswalks • 3 Black and 3 White males, in Portland, OR • Males in their 20s, wearing identical clothing • Male indicates intention to cross Tara Goddard, et al., Psychology Faculty Publications, Portland State University, 2014

15. Multiple Cars Twice as likely to Pass Blacks Tara Goddard, et al., Psychology Faculty Publications, Portland State University, 2014,( * : p ≤ .05)

16. Blacks Wait 32% Longer to Cross the Street Tara Goddard, et al., Psychology Faculty Publications, Portland State University, 2014,( * : p ≤ .05)

17. Institutional Discrimination: Waiting to Vote Average number of minutes, 2012 Presidential Election African Americans Latinos Asian Americans Native Americans Whites 23 min 19 min 15 min 13 min 12 min Cooperative Congressional Election Study, 2012

18. Institutional Processes • Length of time waiting to vote linked to the residence of the voter and the policies and procedures (budgeting and space constraints and local administrative procedures) linked to place: • How many voters being served by a polling site? • How many precincts in a given area? • Staffing of a precinct affects how long it takes to vote

19. The House that Racism Built • Racism • Ideology of inferiority • Institutional • Cultural A Segregation • Social Forces • Political • Legal • Economic • Religious • Cultural • Historical Events

20. Institutional Racism: Segregation Residential Segregation is a striking legacy of racism • As is the forced removal and relocation of indigenous peoples • The institutionalized isolation and marginalization of racial populations has adverselyaffected life chances in multiple ways

21. Racial Segregation Is … 1. …"basic" to understanding racial inequality in America (Myrdal 1944) . 2. …key to understanding racial inequality (Kenneth Clark, 1965) . 3. …the "linchpin" of U.S. race relations and the source of the large and growing racial inequality in SES (Kerner Commission, 1968) . 4. …"one of the most successful political ideologies" of the last century and "the dominant system of racial regulation and control" in the U.S (John Cell, 1982). 5. …"the key structural factor for the perpetuation of Black poverty in the U.S." and the "missing link" in efforts to understand urban poverty (Massey and Denton, 1993).

22. Why Place Matters Where you live determines access to: • High-quality schools • Job opportunities • Safe, affordable & healthy housing  • Fresh produce & nutritious food • Safe to exercise, walk or play outside http://pittsburghpa.gov/finance/ • Nearby Nature • Toxins (from highways, factories & other) • Quality primary care and good hospitals  • Affordable, reliable, public transit  • Social cohesion and social capital 

23. Where you Live Matters It Matters A LOT for your Health

24. Racial Differences in Residential Environment Inthe 171 largest cities in the U.S., there is not even one city where whites live in equal conditions to those of blacks “The worst urban context in which whites reside is considerably better than the average context of black communities.” Sampson & Wilson 1995

25. Segregation Contributes to Large Racial/Ethnic Differences in SES

26. Residential Segregation and SES A study of the effects of segregation on young African American adults found that the elimination of segregationwould erase black-white differences in: • Earnings • High School Graduation Rate • Unemployment And reduce racial differences in single motherhood by two-thirds Cutler, Glaeser & Vigdor, 1997

27. Median Household Income and Race, 2015 72 cents 1.23 dollar 1 dollar 59 cents 62 cents* Racial Differences in Income are Substantial: Asian Hispanic AI/AN White Black U.S. Census Bureau: Proctor,Semega,Kollar, 2016; *2013, Native Her. Month, 2014

28. Median Wealth and Race, 2011 For every dollar of wealth that Whites have, Blacks have only 6 cents Asians have 81 cents Latinos have only 7 cents U.S. Census Bureau, 2014

29. Where Racial Inequities in SES are Born Large Racial/Ethnic Differences in SES that are consequential for life: -- They are not acts of God-- They are not random events -- They reflect successful implementation of social policies Racism has produced a truly “rigged system”

30. Socioeconomic Status (SES) is a central determinant of the distribution of valuable resources in society

31. SAT = Scholastic Aptitude Test

32. ORStudent Affluence Test?

33. SAT SCORE by Family Income Fair Test, College Board, Wall Street Journal, Oct 7th, 2014

34. Relative Risks of All-Cause Mortality by Household Income Level: U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics P. McDonough, Duncan, Williams, & House, AJPH, 1997

35. Added Burden of Race

36. Life Expectancy at Age 25Based on Level of Education 6.4-year gap White 70 75 80 85 Age 5-year gap overall Black 5.3-year gap Overall 0-12 years College graduate Murphy, NVSS 2000; Braveman et al. AJPH; 2010, NLMS 1988-1998

37. Life Expectancy at Age 25Race Still Matters White 70 75 80 85 3.1-year gap between HS dropouts 4.2-year gap between college grads Age Black Blacks with a college degree have a lower life expectancy than Whites with only a high school degree 0-12 years 12 years Some college College graduate Murphy, NVSS 2000; Braveman et al. AJPH; 2010, NLMS 1988-1998

38. Why Race Still Matters • Health is affected not only by current SES but by exposure to adversity over the life course. • All indicators of SES are non-equivalent across race. Compared to whites, blacks & Hispanics receive less income at the same levels of education, have less wealth at the equivalent income levels, and have less purchasing power (at a given income level) because of higher costs of goods and services. • Personal experiences of discrimination and institutional racism are added pathogenic factors that can affect the health in multiple ways. • Higher Exposure to multiple stressors

39. The House that Racism Built B Individual Discrimination • Racism • Ideology of inferiority • Institutional • Cultural A Segregation • Social Forces • Political • Legal • Economic • Religious • Cultural • Historical Events

40. The Pervasiveness of Discrimination Discrimination Getting insurance Buying a home Renting an apartment Hailing a taxi Receiving a promotion Obtaining bank loans Quality of medical care Suspended from preschool Purchasing a car Getting a job Pulled over by police Cost of bail Arrested for drug–related crimes

41. Experiences of discrimination are a source of Toxic Stress

42. Every Day Discrimination • In your day-to-day life how often do these happen to you? • You are treated with less courtesy than other people. • You are treated with less respect than other people. • You receive poorer service than other people at restaurants or stores. • People act as if they think you are not smart. • People act as if they are afraid of you. • People act as if they think you are dishonest. • People act as if they’re better than you are. • You are called names or insulted. • You are threatened or harassed. • What do you think was the main reason for these experiences?

43. Everyday Discrimination, 2015 American Psychological Association, Stress in America, 2016

44. Discrimination & Health: Tene Lewis • Everyday Discrimination: positively associated with: -- coronary artery calcification (Lewis et al., Psy Med, 2006) -- C-reactive protein (Lewis et al., Brain Beh Immunity, 2010) -- blood pressure (Lewis et al., J Gerontology: Bio Sci & Med Sci 2009) -- lower birth weight (Earnshaw et al., Ann Beh Med, 2013) -- cognitive impairment (Barnes et al., 2012) -- poor sleep [object. & subject.] (Lewis et al, Hlth Psy, 2012) -- mortality(Barnes et al., J Gerontology: Bio Sci & Med Sci, 2008). -- visceral fat (Lewis et al., Am J Epidemiology, 2011)

45. Discrimination and Allostatic Load • 331 Blacks (20 year olds), 9 rural counties in Georgia • Discrimination assessed at age 16, 17, and 18 • Allostatic load assessed at age 20; overnight cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, SBP, DBP, CRP, BMI • 79% of sample had low and increasing levels of discrimination; 22% had stably high levels • Stably high levels of discrimination as a teen linked to higher allostatic load at age 20 • Association increased when adjusted for CES-D, life stress, socioeconomic risk and unhealthy behavior. Gene Brody et al., 2014., Child Development

46. Discrimination in the larger environment

47. Arab American Birth Outcomes • Non race-related stressors can be racialized in ways that can generate racial/ethnic discrimination • September 11 terorist attacks an example • Well-documented increase in discrimination and harassment of Arab Americans after 9/11/2001 • Arab American women in California had an increased risk of low birthweight and preterm birth in the 6 months after Sept. 11 compared to pre-Sept. 11 • Other women in California had no change in birth outcome risk, pre-and post-September 11 Lauderdale, 2006

48. A Trump Effect? • Survey of 2,000 K-12 teachers (not a probability sample) • Since the 2016 presidential campaign began: • 67% of teachers report that students (esp., immigrants, children of immigrants and Muslims) express concerns or fears about what might happen to their family after the election • More than a third seen increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiment http://www.newkidscenter.com/Bullying-in-Preschool.html http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Jerry-Brown-Trump-election-build-California-wall-6892193.php Costello, The Trump Effect, Southern Poverty Law Center, 2016

49. A Trump Effect? -2 • More than half say their students “emboldened” to use slurs and name-calling, and say bigoted and • More than half report an increase in uncivil political discourse hostile things about minorities, immigrants, and Muslims http://www.booktrust.org/wheres-hope-hispanic-students www.mormonchurch.com/4933/sad-reality-youth-bullied-church www.islamiclife.com/family/?page=all http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erin-johnson/the-phrase-self-critical-children-need-to-hear_b_9851740.html Costello, The Trump Effect, Southern Poverty Law Center, 2016

50. Impact of Trump’s Election • Across the US, spike in hate crimes & harassment • 1,094 bias incidents in the 1st 34 days (SPLC) • Highest count was on day one • More than a third of incidents referenced Trump, the “Make America Great Again” slogan, or his words about grabbing women by the genitals • Dec. 6, 2016, NY mayor Bill de Blasio reported a 35% spike in hate crime, since the election • US hate groups grew in 2016 from 2015 • Anti-Muslim groups increased by 197% Southern Poverty Law Center; CBS News, Dec 6;