Racism, slavery, and colonialism affect the lived experience of people of color and Indigenous people in the U.S. and globally. People participate, often unknowingly, in racism and benefit from colonialism.

Racism is systemic and is manifested through both individual attitudes and behaviors as well as through formal policies and practices throughout U.S. history, and globally through colonial history and foreign aid.

The world economic system has been designed over hundreds of years to enrich a small portion of humanity at the expense of the vast majority -- therefore there is a need for global and domestic reparations to redress systemic wealth disparities and achieve greater health equity.

Interventions in global health have roots in colonial medicine, and the legacy of those roots persists in assumptions, practices, and structures of many global health institutions and actors today.