Racism is a public health crisis.

Racism affects where people live, where they go to school, the quality of the air they breathe, their income and wealth, and their access to food and healthcare and more. Racism leads to worse health outcomes for Black and Brown patients than their white counterparts.

People of color are also disproportionately affected by chronic health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, hepatitis, and hypertension. Black women are nearly four times as likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white women. Black people are six times as likely to be killed by police.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted these vast disparities. Black and Brown people are nearly three times more likely than white people to contract COVID-19 and up to two times more likely to die from the disease. Black and Brown people who get infected are more likely to have pre-existing conditions that increase their risk of severe illness. Because they are more likely to be uninsured, they tend to put off seeking treatment and are sicker when they do receive care. On top of that, people of color tend to receive less aggressive treatment than white Americans.

Comprehensive research is needed to study the health impacts of structural racism and to develop race-conscious public health approaches and reverse disparities that have plagued our nation for too long.

To help expand research and investment into the public health impacts of structural racism, as well as to require the federal government to begin actively developing anti-racist health policy, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Barbara Lee have introduced the Anti-Racism in Public Health Act. This bill would create a "National Center for Anti-Racism" at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to declare racism as the public health crisis that it is and further develop the research base and knowledge in the science and practice of anti-racism. Additionally, it would create a Law Enforcement Violence Prevention Program.

The health of people of color has been devastated by widespread racism in our healthcare system for far too long. We need to immediately address the unacceptable racist disparities in health care.