Mental Health In Communities of Color

20 years ago, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care released a landmark report "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care" that spotlighted (if not floodlighted) systemic racism in medicine. The 764-page report minces no words about the inequality rife throughout medical care: "Racial and ethnic minorities experience a lower quality of health services, and are less likely to receive even routine medical procedures than are white Americans." Those words might have been written recently, amid a pandemic that has disproportionately sickened and killed people of color. Unfortunately, this quote was written two decades ago. Why has so little changed over the last 20 years? Why were so few of the report's 21 detailed recommendations put into place? According to Brian Smedley, Health Equity & Policy Researcher and the 2003 Report's Lead Editor, it is because "we are still largely seeing what some would call medical apartheid." Hence, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) declared racism a serious threat to public health that has placed Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) communities at greater risk for poor health outcomes.

It is significant that we intentionally use the term "BIPOC" because BIPOC is more descriptive than "People of Color" or POC. It acknowledges that people of color face varying types of discrimination and prejudice. Additionally, it emphasizes that systemic racism continues to oppress, invalidate, and deeply affect the lives of Black and Indigenous people in ways other people of color may not necessarily experience. Lastly and significantly, Black and Indigenous individuals and communities still bear the impact of slavery and genocide.