| One of the most
significant issues to be addressed by health
community is inequities in health and health
care for minorities, particularly African
Americans. African Americans still suffer from
the generational effect of a slave health
deficit. African Americans lag behind on nearly
every health indicator, including life
expectancy, death rates, infant mortality, low
birth weight rates and disease rates. African
Americans are sicker than European Americans.
Blacks have shorter lives - Blacks are quite
literally dying from being black! This black
health deficit is directly traceable to the
slave health deficit. The slave health deficit
that was established during slavery was not
relieved during the reconstruction period
(1865-1870), Jim Crow Era (1870-1965) , the
Affirmative Action Era (1965-1980) or the Racial
entrenchment era (1980 to present). Also,
established at the time was a health care
deficit. That continues to exist.
Repairing the health of
African Americans will require a multi-facet
long term legal and financial commitment.
Reparations is not merely a monetary cash
payment, Reparation is also an equitable remedy
that requires that the harm be repaired not that
money be paid. The United States government
because of its legal sanction of slavery, an
international crime against humanity, is
obligate to do whatever it takes to repair black
health. Dying While Black proposes a
specific program of equitable, rather than
compensatory, reparations including a
comprehensive health care civil rights law. |
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