PHLT 485: Racism and Public Health Personal Reflection

Before entering this course, I feel like I had a decent amount of knowledge regarding the prevalence of racism in the public health field: the racist ideologies faced by black people regarding their pain; the medical experiments were done on black and brown women without proper consent; and the various studies in history that failed to utilize correct ethical standards and took advantage of black and brown bodies. Majority of this information came from Twitter threads, personal experiences, other courses, or Tumblr posts back in the early 2010s. This course helped me realize the depth of how racism permeates the medical and health fields and the desperate need for reform. The course gave me the tools to learn the concepts but apply them to real-life situations by looking at and analyzing current events. It was helpful to see how these disparities were exacerbated by the current COVID-19 pandemic. I had heard from many people on the news and in articles that the COVID pandemic has served to show how terrible the US health system has been especially with health disparities and the articles and videos helped prove that to me. One thing that was very pertinent to me was to see how explicit and internal biases stemming from race and ethnicity were especially harmful. What was scary for me is how internal biases continue to propagate systemic racism and how difficult it is to find the resources and tools to actively combat it. This caused a source of inspiration in my personal life to become a better human and citizen of the world.

Before the course, I had just transferred into the Public Health major at TAMU. I was previously minoring in the department and realized that I was being called in the public health direction rather than Genetics. I was excited to take this course; I was hoping I would identify tangible examples of how racism and the public health field intersect and how our generation can better fight back against these structures established by the old white people. I was also interested to see what I already knew compared to what I’d be learning about based on the few public health courses I had taken before. After taking this class, my knowledge about the public health field has definitely expanded. I knew that public health was broad and accounted for many different medical and health professions. To see all the diverse applications of public health was definitely eye-opening, while simultaneously disappointing to see how deep racism infested these fields. I also recognized how all the different industries worked together to create the public health field while maintaining the health system. What was especially important to realize was how professions outside of the health field had a significant impact on public health and to involve them in health efforts regarding racism and any other topic to address all avenues affecting the issue. This class has helped me realize how everything in the health field is important to learn. Although I may be interested in sexual health, I recognize that it does not exist in a vacuum and it would be irresponsible of me to ignore all the other fields that also impact sexual health.

My goals are to one day earn an MPH and Ph.D. in Maternal and Child Health emphasizing sexual and reproductive health. Before I reach those goals, I must go through basic public health learning and training to fully understand the field and then make my own impact in it. Through the readings, it became evident to me that racism is not only prevalent within the medical field, but also in the research field, which influences all the other public health aspects. Therefore, it is imperative for me to not only practice anti-racism but to call out prejudice and racist tendencies in others. I cannot remain quiet and expect passive work to solve the problem as that will only increase the problem and help white supremacy retain its hold on public health. My Community Advocacy Project was about black maternal mortality and the need for doulas and midwives to be integrated within the medical community, making me cognizant of ways racism can influence the sexual health of youth in the United States. That will likely be accomplished during graduate studies, but it is good for me to keep in mind so I have an eye out for such trends. One thing I can do when looking for grad programs is to see who the faculty in my department would be and what classes they teach. I think it’s suspect if schools are promoting Black Lives Matter and other progressive ideals but continue to rely on old white faculty members to facilitate discussion and teach these ideas. Another thing would be to actively bring BIPOC figures into the forefront of such issues. I recognize that I have privilege which others are not afforded. It is my responsibility to use that privilege for good and help amplify BIPOC voices on BIPOC issues while also making sure my voice is quiet and I actively pay attention to what they’re saying. I also believe that the medical and health fields need to integrate social justice movements and ideals more into their practice. I am making sure that I continue to be a reproductive justice advocate and assimilate those ideas into my reproductive health work. Without justice for all, including BIPOC people, there will be no improvements in the health of our population. Working with my reproductive justice organization, FREE, gives me the opportunity to learn and practice reproductive justice and it is my hope that others also identify social justice movements they feel passionate about and integrate those morals in their lives. Personally, I am learning more about internal bias and how to actively change your narrative. I am doing my best to be the best human possible and making sure that I practice what I preach.