FOUR YEARS AGO, (click here) researchers identified a surprising price for being a black woman in America. The study of 334 midlife women, published in the journal Health Psychology, examined links between different kinds of stress and risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Black women who pointed to racism as a source of stress in their lives, the researchers found, developed more plaque in their carotid arteries -- an early sign of heart disease -- than black women who didn't. The difference was small but important -- making the report the first to link hardening of the arteries to racial discrimination.
The study was just one in a fast-growing field of research documenting how racism literally hurts the body. More than 100 studies -- most published since 2000 -- now document the effects of racial discrimination on physical health. Some link blood pressure to recollected encounters with bigotry. Others record the cardiovascular reactions of volunteers subjected to racist imagery in a lab. Forthcoming research will even peek into the workings of the brain during exposure to racist provocations....
...Boston's Disparities Project, launched in 2005 by Mayor Menino's office and the Boston Public Health Commission, is one of the most progressive blueprints for change. It includes partnerships with medical institutions, detailed public reports tracking progress, and community grants to tackle such entrenched problems as street violence and lack of access to fresh produce. In May, lawmakers on Beacon Hill held a hearing on proposed legislation that would reverse the root causes of health inequities. The bill would establish a state office of health equity, among other measures....
..."Across multiple societies, you're finding similar kinds of relationships," said David Williams, a sociologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. "There is a phenomenon here that is quite robust."
For decades, experts have agreed that racial disparities in health spring from pervasive social and institutional forces. The scientific literature has linked higher rates of death and disease in American blacks to such "social determinants" as residential segregation, environmental waste, joblessness, unsafe housing, targeted marketing of alcohol and cigarettes, and other inequities....
...Jules Harrell, a Howard University professor of psychology, said he was moved this spring by a photo of the Rutgers University women's college basketball team, sitting together with dignified expressions, after radio talk show host Don Imus had labeled them with a racist epithet.
"The expressions on their faces," said Harrell. "All I could think was, 'Good God, I'd hate to see their cortisol levels.' "...
The study was just one in a fast-growing field of research documenting how racism literally hurts the body. More than 100 studies -- most published since 2000 -- now document the effects of racial discrimination on physical health. Some link blood pressure to recollected encounters with bigotry. Others record the cardiovascular reactions of volunteers subjected to racist imagery in a lab. Forthcoming research will even peek into the workings of the brain during exposure to racist provocations....
...Boston's Disparities Project, launched in 2005 by Mayor Menino's office and the Boston Public Health Commission, is one of the most progressive blueprints for change. It includes partnerships with medical institutions, detailed public reports tracking progress, and community grants to tackle such entrenched problems as street violence and lack of access to fresh produce. In May, lawmakers on Beacon Hill held a hearing on proposed legislation that would reverse the root causes of health inequities. The bill would establish a state office of health equity, among other measures....
..."Across multiple societies, you're finding similar kinds of relationships," said David Williams, a sociologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. "There is a phenomenon here that is quite robust."
For decades, experts have agreed that racial disparities in health spring from pervasive social and institutional forces. The scientific literature has linked higher rates of death and disease in American blacks to such "social determinants" as residential segregation, environmental waste, joblessness, unsafe housing, targeted marketing of alcohol and cigarettes, and other inequities....
...Jules Harrell, a Howard University professor of psychology, said he was moved this spring by a photo of the Rutgers University women's college basketball team, sitting together with dignified expressions, after radio talk show host Don Imus had labeled them with a racist epithet.
"The expressions on their faces," said Harrell. "All I could think was, 'Good God, I'd hate to see their cortisol levels.' "...
