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> The root, she says, lies in structural racism. Another HNr deleted his comment, but this needs more substance before thrown around. When I was studying soci

> The root, she says, lies in structural racism. Another HNr deleted his comment, but this needs more substance before thrown around. When I was studying sociology I noticed this trend of finding some general stat and the author follows with statements such as is systemic xism. Most of the times it comes as intellectually weak. Why not researching further, before typing such gross statement. Often it is a non sequitur fallacy, and probably a sort of ecological fallacy too. Of course, her recipe is not only to train doctors in the particular needs of other races (IDK the validity of this, since I'm not physician nor a biologist) and follow up this people and check them often, but to train doctors on racism and social justice.

DoreenMichele 6y ago
I submitted this twelve days ago and it got no traction, but it's an interesting read: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25567826 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25567826
- iagovar 6y ago
  It seems interesting as an hypothesis, but it could also be wrong. In the Internet most of the times you don't know who you're talking to, so just in case I come across as rude, bear in mind, I'm not in or from the US, and I already shared my experience studying sociology.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
vharuck 6y ago
I somewhat agree, but for maybe a different reason. I think racism probably is a major root cause, but think it's intellectually lazy because identifying it doesn't help much. Racial disparities exist in virtually every important measure of health (and I only say "virtually" because I don't know them all off the top of my head). Genetics plays a part in some, but the root cause of many is the current or lingering effects of racism: families that never accrued much wealth, communities who had much worse professional prospects so education wasn't as valued, "bad" neighborhoods where towns invested less in public transportation or sanitation. A bunch of ways racism shapes communities. However, pointing out the racism root is only useful for long-term sociological planning. You also need to focus on the immediate causes. Systemic racism is actually a perfect example of this: even if a system becomes "race blind," the effect of past racism means non-white people are at a disadvantage.
- iagovar 6y ago
  Actionable public policy is difficult and requires to think stuff twice, measure results and to be practical. Even for general guidelines (unless you just want to dump money around). I can tell you about public policy that mentions no racism that would change the life of poor black people in the US, allowing them to capitalize themselves easier, and have a better life. It probably wouldn't be the most trendy, but it works.

DoreenMichele 6y ago

I submitted this twelve days ago and it got no traction, but it's an interesting read: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25567826 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25567826

iagovar 6y ago
It seems interesting as an hypothesis, but it could also be wrong. In the Internet most of the times you don't know who you're talking to, so just in case I come across as rude, bear in mind, I'm not in or from the US, and I already shared my experience studying sociology.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

vharuck 6y ago

I somewhat agree, but for maybe a different reason. I think racism probably is a major root cause, but think it's intellectually lazy because identifying it doesn't help much. Racial disparities exist in virtually every important measure of health (and I only say "virtually" because I don't know them all off the top of my head). Genetics plays a part in some, but the root cause of many is the current or lingering effects of racism: families that never accrued much wealth, communities who had much worse professional prospects so education wasn't as valued, "bad" neighborhoods where towns invested less in public transportation or sanitation. A bunch of ways racism shapes communities. However, pointing out the racism root is only useful for long-term sociological planning. You also need to focus on the immediate causes. Systemic racism is actually a perfect example of this: even if a system becomes "race blind," the effect of past racism means non-white people are at a disadvantage.

iagovar 6y ago
Actionable public policy is difficult and requires to think stuff twice, measure results and to be practical. Even for general guidelines (unless you just want to dump money around). I can tell you about public policy that mentions no racism that would change the life of poor black people in the US, allowing them to capitalize themselves easier, and have a better life. It probably wouldn't be the most trendy, but it works.