Thread by @magi_jay

I wrote about the cycle of physical & emotional trauma inflicted on Black Americans for @AlterNet. Racism induces chronic, lifelong stress. Black people are subject to misdiagnosis & under-diaglnosis. White society blames Black people for their suffering alternet.org/2021/04/george…

Socioeconomic & environmental factors affect Black people's health, but it's under-recognized that chronic stress also has invisible effects. This is one reason why Black women may have poorer repro health outcomes even if they are of the same socioeconomic status as white women

So there's the chronic stress of racism. Then there's the racism Black people, including Black children, encounter at the doctor's office. Black children receive poor treatment in every domain of health, from hearing loss to appendicitis.

One particularly horrific example of medical racism is kidney health. Black people are less likely to be referred to the transplant list, spend longer on the list, & are more likely to undergo limb amputation than white peers w/ the same disease profile alternet.org/2021/04/george…

Consider this bundle of effects: Black people are less likely to receive diagnosis & treatment for a variety of health issues. Less likely to receive pain treatment. Then, when Black people experience more severe disease, doctors are more willing to take the most extreme measures

Then here is the cycle of trauma. White society abuses Black people's bodies. Racism hurts health. White society also views Black people as "stronger." Pain is under recognized. Then, when Black people suffer, white society blames them for being "weak"

In Derek Chauvin's trial for the murder of George Floyd, Mr. Floyd was portrayed as super-human by the defense & conservative media. Yet they also blamed his own "enlarged heart" for his death. This exact same contradictory explanation was mounted after the murder of Eric Garner

Parallel effects exist in education. Black children are viewed as "older." This means that when white kids exhibit age-appropriate behavior, they're just kids. Black children are punished for doing the same. K-12 induces racism-related chronic stress alternet.org/2021/11/race-s…

White people must fully sit with the vast scope of systemic racism. How deep it goes. How chronically it harms. We must fight against the gaslighting of Black Americans about this trauma. We must advocate for policies that recognize racism affects health

https://twitter.com/magi_jay/status/1482737112411742212

We also, of course, saw this with COVID. That Black people particularly suffered was their own fault. Their lives were expendable, and, in the view of white racist society, their deaths were almost deserved.

https://twitter.com/magi_jay/status/1482751901225598982