OpenEntrance - What’s Really Going OnWhat’s Really Going On

Research into the physical effects of racism on its victims could help explain a disparity in health across races and reframe racism as a health issue…. Discrimination seems to act as a source of chronic stress the same way that marital conflict or strains at work do, increasing the stress hormone cortisol, raising blood pressure, and suppressing the immune system. High stress also has been linked to overeating or smoking…. Studies have shown that the stress of suppressing the inner turmoil caused by racist encounters can itself lead to ill effects…. Scholars in the field say they are following the same procedures used in studies of depression, anger, and post-traumatic disorder.  Once again research proves what we have always known.  A racist society is a sick society. The victims of racism do not get a fair shake in many ways and it makes them physically sick. This research also adds some validity to the argument for reparations for African Americans (but that’s another topic for another column) and to all the old Black men who told you so years ago while sitting on the porch getting ready for the revolution.