500 signatures reached
To: CDC/NIH
RACISM IS A PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT
Racism has prevented us from making America a healthy nation. It should not take the death of innocent Americans like Alton Sterling and Philando Castile for our institutions to respond with urgency.
We, the undersigned, urge the Center for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health to acknowledge with urgency that racism is a threat to public health according to CDC's own four criteria. By understanding racism as an epidemic, we implore that they develop a rapid-response action plan with real-world interventions to eliminate health disparities and the fatal impact of injustice.
Why is this important?
As a young person raised by two civil rights and health advocate parents, I learned that preventing illness saves money for everyone.
As we can see from the legislative battles around gun control the congress is not the place to handle this. It is much too serious and too much of a life and death matter to let the political whims of the party shift as we have seen with gun legislation.
With a Black infant mortality rate that has remained unchanged for the past 50 years, and with Black children 4 times as likely to be admitted to the hospital for an asthma attack than white children, there are countless, tragic and unnecessary examples that demand that the CDC take serious action on behalf of the 44 million Black people in the United States.
Last summer, I wrote a letter to CDC asking their head, Dr. Tom Frieden, to fulfill his own mandate and officially declare racism a public health threat. Their response was disappointing- the Associate Director of Minority Health replied listing the initiatives they have already been doing.
But we know that the impact of racism makes this issue much more urgent and requires the CDC to act accordingly. If CDC fulfills its mandate, the estimated $4-10 per dollar spent in preventive health savings over diagnostic and treatment costs can be channeled to develop real world interventions that will save millions of lives. If we display the kind of integrity we promote in other countries, the conditions for Black people in our country will improve significantly.
From HIV/ AIDS prevention to unhealthy water in Flint and the ongoing conditions of police violence in the name of "public safety", we can see that current measures are insufficient. Change will begin with the investment of resources into our children; from public education on health disparities to real interventions to create schools, homes and neighborhoods where they can be themselves and be healthy. Because health is the one human need above all factors of greed, shame, fear, competitiveness, etc. the issue of racism's impact on health has roots in every human endeavor from financial to educational; from the religious to the mundane.
Add your name: Demand the CDC admit that Racism is a Public Health threat and invest resources and research to address it.
We deserve more than to survive – Black health matters and its time there is a real investment in initiatives that make it possible for us all to thrive.