Impact

How are Black People Affected?

There are two types of racism that have been at play and are still at play in the issue of medical racism. They are direct racism and institutional racism. Biases also affect healthcare for Black Americans.

Direct Racism

Direct Racism is a simple cause and effect. Racist healthcare professional, bad care. This racism was predominate in the past, although it is still affects care today. However, most of the effects today stem from institutionalized racism.

Institutionalized Racism

Institutionalized racism, also known as systemic racism, is the racism that is deeply ingrained in many systems today, including the US healthcare system. Our current healthcare system was made with the ideals of White supremacy, and favors White patients. There are so many interconnected systems in a vicious cycle of inequity that the system needs to be reworked almost completely to have real, substantial change.

Biases

Biases of all types are also key players in our racist healthcare system. The two main types of biases are explicit bias and implicit bias. Explicit bias is similar to direct racism- you are aware of explicit bias and it is not systemic. Implicit bias however, is systemic and most people are unaware of their implicit biases. Biases can be formed from anywhere, but are commonly formed from your environment, the people you interact with, your education, and your life experiences. One bias that is often taught is that Black women do not feel pain. This bias is not true, but so many healthcare professionals are taught it, and now it is ingrained in the system. This bias has a great effect on how Black women's pain is treated.