RACISM
Science & Tools
for the Public Health
Professional
2 nd Edition
For access to digital chapters,
visit the APHA Press bookstore (www.apha.org).
RACISM
Science & Tools
for the Public Health
Professional
2 nd Edition
Edited by
Chandra L. Ford, PhD, MPH, MLIS
Derek M. Griffith, PhD
American Public Health Association
800 I Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001-3710
www.apha.org
© 2024 by the American Public Health Association
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Printed and bound in the United States of America
Book Production Editors: Maya Ribault, Keira McCarthy
Typesetting: The Charlesworth Group
Cover Design: Katie Avelar
Printing and Binding: Sheridan Books
Poems featured in chapter 24, listed below, have been reprinted with permission.
Refaat Alareer, “if I die,” originally published on Twitter/X, 2023. Reprinted with permission of the Alareer family.
“Moving Towards Home” from Directed by Desire: The Complete Poems of June Jordan, Copper Canyon Press ©Christopher D. Meyer,
2007. Reprinted by permission of the Francis Goldin Literary Agency.
Tasha, “New Place,” Alone at Last. Father/Daughter Records, 2018. Reprinted with permission of the artist and Father/Daughter
Records.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ford, Chandra L., editor. | Griffith, Derek M., editor.
Title: Racism : science & tools for the public health professional /
Chandra L. Ford, PhD, MPH, MLIS, and Derek M. Griffith, PhD.
Description: 2nd edition. | Washington, DC : American Public Health
Association, [2024] | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Summary: “This book outlines the relationship between racism and health,
while providing public health professionals with a variety of actions,
strategies, and tools to understand and address the public health
implications of racism, as well as inspiration to pursue health
equity”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2024027851 (print) | LCCN 2024027852 (ebook) | ISBN
9780875533520 (paperback) | ISBN 9780875533537 (adobe pdf )
Subjects: LCSH: Discrimination in medical care. | Health services
accessibility. | Race discrimination.
Classification: LCC RA563.M56 R336 2024 (print) | LCC RA563.M56 (ebook) |
DDC 362.1089--dc23/eng/20240705
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024027851
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024027852
This second edition has been a labor of love over an
extended period of time punctuated by tragic per-
sonal losses. Therefore, we dedicate it to our
extraordinary parents, two of whom have transi-
tioned from this life way too early. You have always
inspired us.
To my parents. No one has loved me, inspired me,
allowed me to grow, sacrificed for me, and been
there to help me pick up broken pieces again and
again like you have. I cannot thank you enough for
all you continue to share with me in life and in
transition from this life. I live to be the daughter
you see in me. C. L. F.
To my father. May you see the fruits of your love,
sacrifice, and perseverance in this work. D. M. G.
Contents
Illustrations xi
Preface xv
Introduction xix
I.
THE CONTEXT OF HEALTH EQUITY AND RACISM 1
IN THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY
Reflections—This Ain’t Yo Laboratory: Racism, Research, 3
and an Attempt to Center Home
Natalie J. Bradford, PhD, MS
1. Power, Politics, and the Health Costs of Trump-Era 11
“Divisive Concepts”
Andrew J. Twinamatsiko, JD, Caroline R. Efird, PhD, MPH,
and Derek M. Griffith, PhD
2. Hate Crimes and Health Equity in the United States: 21st Century 29
Considerations
Alexis J. Smith, MPH, and Chandra L. Ford, PhD, MPH, MLIS
II. RACISM, SETTLER COLONIALISM, AND IMPERIALISM: 45
DIVERSE EXPERIENCES AND IMPLICATIONS
3. “We Are Peoples”: Reclaiming Native Health 47
Dian Million, PhD, and Dornell Pete, PhD, MPH
4. Multilevel Racism, Historical Trauma, Resilience, and Native 65
Hawaiian Health
Cherry Y. E. W. Yamane, MPH, and Nicole Kau‘i Baumhofer-Merritt,
ScD, MPH, MA
5. The Global and Historical Nature of Racism and Health Among 83
Asian Americans
Gilbert C. Gee, PhD, Cindy Sangalang, PhD, MSW,
Brittany N. Morey, PhD, MPH, and Anna K. Hing, PhD, MPH
viii RACISM: SCIENCE & TOOLS
6. Racism and the Health of Black Americans: How Racism Has 103
Shaped the Health of Black People and What to Do About It
Anthony J. Nixon Jr., MPH, and Darrell Hudson, PhD, MPH
7. Whiteness: A Fundamental Determinant of Health 121
Caroline R. Efird, PhD, MPH, and Derek M. Griffith, PhD
8. Racism and the Health of Latiné Communities 139
Alana M. W. LeBrón, PhD, MS, Juan Carlos Ruiz
Malagon, MS, MA, and Edna A. Viruell-Fuentes, PhD, MPH
9. Resisting the Disentanglement of Race and Religion in 157
Public Health: How the Racialization of Religion
Impacts Health
Mienah Z. Sharif, PhD, MPH, Héctor E. Alcalá, PhD, MPH,
Bita Amani, PhD, MHS, and Asha Hassan, MPH
10. Racism and Cisheterosexism: Driving Health Inequities at the 177
Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, Sexual Orientation, and
Gender Identity
Ellesse-Roselee Akré, PhD, MA
11. Re-Imagining Policy: In Pursuit of Black Reproductive Justice 199
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive
Justice Agenda
III. ETIOLOGIES: KEY MECHANISMS BY WHICH 217
RACISM CAUSES POOR HEALTH
Structural Mechanisms and Social Determinants of Health
12. Structural Racism in Policing and Mass Incarceration: 221
A Driver of Health Disparities in Black and Latiné Communities
Sharon G. E. Washington, EdD, MPH, Jasmine D. Graves, MPH,
Amani Gilliam, and Robert E. Fullilove, EdD, MS
13. A Critical Race Feminista Praxis: A Public Health Call to 237
Examine Latinx Students’ Racial Stratification in Education
Tanya J. Gaxiola Serrano, PhD, Alma Itzé Flores, PhD, and
Daniel G. Solórzano, PhD
C ontents ix
Intrapersonal Mechanisms
14. John Henryism, Systemic Racism, and the Cardiometabolic 257
Health of Black Americans
Sherman A. James, PhD, Allana T. Forde, PhD, MPH, and
LaShaunta M. Glover, PhD, MS
15. Racism Across the Life Course 279
Roland J. Thorpe, Jr., PhD, Keith C. Norris, MD, PhD, Bettina M.
Beech, DrPH, MPH, and Marino A. Bruce, PhD, MSRC, MDiv
IV. ANTIRACISM IN ACTION: INTERVENTIONS AND STRATEGIES 291
TO ADDRESS THE HEALTH IMPACTS OF RACISM
Making Institutional Change: Health Care, the Workforce,
and Universities
16. View From the Front Lines: A Local Public Health 295
Department Advancing Antiracism
Ousman Laast-Maiga, MPH, Julian Watkins, MD,
Amaka Anekwe, RDN, MS, Korin E. Parrella, MPH,
Nina Rembert-Wolkwitz, MPH, Haniya Abbasi, MPH,
Jocelyn Valdez, MPH, Meera P. Kumanan, MPH,
Xavier Bost, and Michelle E. Morse, MD, MPH
17. Health Care: Antiracism Organizing for Culture and 323
Institutional Change in Cancer Care
Kristin Z. Black, PhD, MPH, Stephanie L. Baker, PhD, MS, PT,
Linda B. Robertson, DrPH, MSN, Alexandra F. Lightfoot, EdD,
Kimberly M. Alexander, MPH, Deanna Befus, PhD, RN,
Crystal T. Dixon, MPH, MA, Katrina R. Ellis, PhD, MPH, MSW,
Fatima Guerrab, MPH, Jennifer C. Schaal, MD,
Beth Smith, RN, MSN, Jennifer H. Tang, MD, MSCR,
Kari Thatcher, MPH, Rachel Urrutia, MD, MS,
Sonja M. Wilson, EdD, MSN, Christina M. Yongue, MPH,
and Eugenia Eng, DrPH, MPH
Improving the Profession of Public Health
18. Epidemiology: Why Epidemiologists Must Reckon 341
With Racism
Nancy Krieger, PhD
x RACISM: SCIENCE & TOOLS
19. Environmental Slavery: America’s Original Sin Continued 359
Sacoby Wilson, PhD, MS
20. Critical Race Theory’s Antiracism Approaches: Moving From 371
the Ivory Tower to the Front Lines of Public Health
Kia Skrine Jeffers, PhD, RN, PHN, and Chandra L. Ford, PhD,
MPH, MLIS
21. In Pursuit of Health Equity: Collaborations to Promote 387
Community Research Literacy and Participatory
Action Research
Melody S. Goodman, PhD, and Vetta Sanders Thompson, PhD
V. MOVING FORWARD COLLECTIVELY 405
22. The Art of Antiracism: Power, Poetry, and Creative 407
Expression in the Struggle for Health Justice
Ryan J. Petteway, DrPH, MPH, Shanaé R. Burch, EdD, EdM,
and LeConté J. Dill, DrPH, MPH
23. Policy Applications of a Multilevel Framework for Health Equity 429
Brian D. Smedley, PhD
24. In Search of (Poetic) Health Justice: Public Health Development 447
in Context of Racism’s Destruction and (Poetic)
Resistance’s Creativity
Shanaé R. Burch, EdD, EdM, Ryan J. Petteway, DrPH, MPH, and
LeConté J. Dill, DrPH, MPH
Contributors 461
Index 475
