RACISM

Why Black People Carry Unfair Burden in Broken Healthcare System

A rising tide can’t lift all boats when some are riddled with holes

A woman is looking at flowers in a tree | Photo by David Kwewum via Pexels

If a rising tide lifts all boats, then it's fair to say the black community is riding in a vessel riddled with holes. As a result, some are struggling to keep the ship afloat. Take, for instance, the disparities found in maternal health care. Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than White women. While some attempt to shrug off this disparity as a natural phenomenon, research suggests that nearly half could be prevented "through improved quality of medical care." Black women are dying unnecessarily, seemingly falling through the cracks of a broken healthcare system. Why do these racial disparities persist?

While Americans today often see themselves as far removed from the nation's overtly racist past, the impact of Jim Crow policies has lingered like a dark cloud hovering over modern-day society. During the 1930s, when banks and financial institutions began the process of racial redlining, they labeled many predominantly black communities "high risk" to discourage investment in those areas and, in doing so, created vast pockets of neglect and poverty. "Due to decades of residential segregation, African…