Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated on Thursday that racism is a “serious public health threat.”
“Confronting the impact of racism will not be easy,” Walensky added in statement. “I know that we can do this if we work together. I certainly hope you will lean in and join me.”
The director offered an expansive definition of the term:
Racism is not just the discrimination against one group based on the color of their skin or their race or ethnicity, but the structural barriers that impact racial and ethnic groups differently to influence where a person lives, where they work, where their children play, and where they gather in community.
Over generations, these structural inequities have resulted in stark racial and ethnic health disparities that are severe, far-reaching and unacceptable.
The CDC website has echoed the need to address alleged “systemic” racism, claiming, “To build a healthier America for all, we must confront the systems and policies that have resulted in the generational injustice that has given rise to racial and ethnic health inequities.”
But Walensky avoided the discussion of any policy prescriptions or the root causes of such “racism,” like perpetual urban poverty and gentrification that has remained entrenched under liberal political leadership for decades.
The Hill observed the CDC is now the largest agency to declare racism a public health threat.
“The declaration is part of a new agency-wide initiative called Racism and Health, which the CDC said is meant to be a hub for its research into the effects of racism on health, and efforts to achieve health equity,” they added.
The CDC noted minority groups “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.”
Some members of Congress are also addressing racism as a public health crisis. The Anti-Racism in Public Health Act was re-introduced in February in an attempt to create two anti-racism programs within the CDC.
The act was co-sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA).
The proposed bill would create a Center on Anti-Racism in Health and a Law Enforcement Violence Protection Program.
