NIH funds groundbreaking research on racism’s long-term health effects
In a pioneering initiative, researchers from Michigan State University and Rutgers University are set to embark on a nationally funded study aimed at investigating the profound effects of structural racism on housing, aging and health. This study, which is the first of its kind, will delve into the historical and contemporary practices that have perpetuated racial inequalities in America.
SF artist uses unconventional medium to comment on colorism in the Black community
A young San Francisco artist's exhibit at the Museum of African Diaspora explores the issues surrounding beauty and skin color within the Black community, and it does so using a medium that was once used as a tool for discrimination.The paper is creased, crinkled and careworn. And despite the life-like and beautiful portraits painted on them, the brown paper bags betray their humble beginnings — collected from groceries, shopping centers and corner stores."The form of the bag on the canvas is undeniable. It almost screams, 'This is a paper bag. It's a paper bag," said artist Mary Graham.For Graham, the...
First-of-its-kind study on structural racism to be led by Michigan State, Rutgers
Researchers from Michigan State University and Rutgers University say they will lead the first nationally funded study on the effects of structural racism on housing, aging and health. The research – funded by an expected $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Aging – will examine the impact that “racist and discriminatory” policies over the last 100 years have had on a cohort of 800 Black and white Baltimore-based adults. Most past research has had an "almost singular focus" on either residential segregation or historic redlining. This report will look at how factors such as redlining, gentrification, predatory lending, urban renewal, freeway construction, segregation and more have shaped the neighborhoods, homes, schools and stores Black residents engage with and how it has contributed to racial inequities, according to researcher Dick Sadler, an associate professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. The lead researchers say that lifelong exposure to structural racism -- the policies and processes causing race-based inequities -- are key drivers behind disparities in health and accelerated aging for Black people.