By Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, M.D.
Director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
The past few weeks have been an extremely difficult time in the United States. George Floyd’s death was so painful to witness. Even more painful is the knowledge that he was only one in a long, long line of African American men and women who have been killed by police in America. It is a relentless, terrible history, and his death was yet another reminder of injustice in our lives. It is the same injustice that American Indians suffered in colonial times and the 19th century, losing their lands and being victimized by war. It is the same injustice that led to mass deportation of Mexican Americans—people born in the United States—in the 1930s. It is the same injustice that led to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. This is our history.
I have watched the protests—at times coupled with violence but mostly peaceful—and been heartened by the Americans of all races who have continued to show up, day after day, to say that Black lives matter and structural racism must end. This is a society that is proud to say that all are created equal, with liberty and justice for all, but the history of injustice is clear. People are not standing for it anymore. Continue reading “Racism and the Health of Every American”
