Effects Of Racism On Minorities

This paper will be addressing the issue of racism and its health effects on targeted minorities. This essay will attempt to answer/prove my research question, which asked, if the unequal health status between whites and minorities is as a result of the effects of racism? . Racism has been proven to cause serious health disadvantages to minorities. It has become so advanced that it is imbedded in various institutions of the society like schools, health centers, prisons and the media and as such part of everyday life. They have been expressed through methods like residential segregation, mass media negative portrayal and bias health-care allocation; this has resulted in unequal health disparities among races in America. Various reviews have consistently
found that persons who self report exposures to racism have the greater risk for mental and physical ailments. In light of this and to answer my research question, this paper will argue/answer that poor health in minorities is as a result of racial inequalities, which are imbedded, in the social and institutional structure of the society. BACKGROUND This paper in supporting the thesis will provide three scholarly articles that speak on the issue of racism and health.
This paper will explore the effects of segregation among minorities. Comparing the difference in racially segregated neighborhoods, this paper will attempt to prove that segregation is a social construct aimed at maintaining the racial hierarchy and has contributed in the poor health status of minorities. Second, the paper will expatiate on the health consequences from negative media portrayal of minorities. The portrayal of minorities in a negative fashion reinforces prejudice towards that minority groups which in turn can cause health problems. Third, will be an investigation of the link between biased health-care decisions against minorities. In this part, I will be relying on the experiment provided in one of the sources to prove that bias health decisions are race related as well as finance
related.
This paper will offer three distinct points in addressing the research question and supporting my thesis: (1) Segregation being a social and institutional construct has shown to isolate minorities to impoverish neighborhoods such that it has caused a disadvantage to their health. (2) The media have shown to be agents of cultural racism and prejudice by continuously portraying minority groups in a negative way; this has contributed to several psychological and mental disorders. (3) There is a link between financial security and Racism. The allocation of health-care decisions to minorities is significantly low compared to their white counterparts.
Segregation has become an instrument used on racial out-groups that traces the development of deliberate policies that would create racial residential segregation.
This shows that the desire to avoid social contact with blacks, driven by an ideology on black inferiority, was a driving force behind the development of deliberate policies that would create racial residential segregation (Williams et al 1999 496). An example of this form of discrimination has involved the real estate industry, banking institutions and vigilante neighborhood organizations that made it their purpose to ensure black-Americans remain in the impoverished neighborhoods (Williams et al 1999 496). Concentrated poverty in residential segregated neighborhoods has shown to cause poor nutrition, less access to adequate medical services, unhealthy environment and high level of stress in minorities and as such is responsible for the unequal health status of whites to minorities (Chiquita Collins 1999,
500). Further, mainstream media is another institution that has racism imbedded in it. There is a difference in the way mass media depicts different ethnic groups. For example, whites are portrayed to be the protagonist while minorities are portrayed to be antagonists. “These presentations establish norms about the behaviors associated with the group membership, and strengthen existing attitudes towards race/ethnic group members” (Brondolo et al 2012, 361). When a particular group of society is portrayed in an unpopular way, viewers tend to develop a negative attitude towards such group (Brondolo et al, 2012, 361). Various studies have indicated that blacks are less likely than whites to be portrayed as victims of crimes in comparison to the actual rate at which they are victimized in TV news (Brondolo et al 2012, 361). Although the effect of this type of racism is subtle, it still contributes to psychological and stress disorders in minorities stemming from a life long of victimization from the rest of society. To further prove that racism is imbedded in our social and institutional structure thereby resulting in poor health, I explore the factors affecting health-care decision-making and why there seem to be an unequal distribution. The research done to determine this involved 234 respondents (157 females and 77 males) who were given hypothetical medical scenarios and tasked to make a decision if the supposed patient will receive Medicare. The result of this study proved that race was a part factor in determining who received Medicare. Most of the patients that received Medicare had some form of insurance or employment while the ones that were stall or denied Medicare had no employment (Murphy, Berman et al 1998 2240). Since most minorities are unemployed or have no insurance, they mostly fit into the category of being refused or delayed medical care; hence the reason for the unequal health disparity cased by racist institutions. Racism will vanish when these institutions and measures set up by the government change their attitude This will in turn, increase the health status of minorities.