Conclusion
Racism is not confined to historical texts or outdated practices. It is ubiquitous in our society, impacting policies, systems, and environments, and it has sustained through centuries and persisted over generations. As this book has shown, from the violence of slavery to the lived toll of weathering, the past is inseparable from the present. The influence of racism becomes more apparent when we retrospectively look at the origins of race and see how race has shaped cultures, practices, laws, and the well-being of individuals across centuries. The attribution of biology to race has had devastating consequences to people of color and has resulted in disparities across multiple sectors of American life. This book sought to focus on health disparities, particularly those experienced by Blacks in the United States. We have discussed scientific and medical racism, examined the structural inequities in healthcare, and the profound and often deadly influence of racism on people of color. Through this text, we have examined how inequities affect Black mental health, how genomic research both challenges and reinforces ideas of race, and how personal stories reveal the human cost of systemic injustice.
By sharing lived experiences of individuals, we have sought to bring faces and names to the human toll of racism. However, understanding the intersection of race and health requires more than awareness; it demands action. These narratives challenge current practices and call for a change. While this book provided context and awareness, it also calls on each of us to recognize our collective capacity for transformation. It calls on stakeholders across sectors to interrogate methodologies, revise curricula, confront bias, and to dismantle systems that perpetuate harm. It also calls on all of us to listen deeply to those most affected and to center equity in every aspect of health and healthcare.
This book does not represent every perspective, nor does it offer final answers. Instead, it is an option for continued learning, and an invitation to reflect, to question, and to act. Many may find issues with these perspectives. Others may find them uncomfortable, but true, nonetheless. By engaging with these histories and perspectives, it is my hope that readers join a larger movement toward justice, where health is not determined by race, where care is not conditioned by bias, and where dignity is not reserved for the privileged. The future of medicine must be one in which equity is not exceptional, but expected—and where every person, regardless of race, can thrive. It is up to each of us to make this a reality.
