![Istock 894125638](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/bb67c03c-c07b-4ead-98d2-c7108939f77b/iStock-894125638.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=450&mono=0a80bc&q=80&rect=0%2C44%2C2121%2C1193&w=800)
Racism is everyone’s problem in this country.
Show Notes
Throughout American history, racism has been embedded in health and health care. To justify slavery, scientists promulgated falsehoods about African Americans and health. More recently, social policies rooted in racism have led to less access to care, higher disease rates, and lower life expectancies for communities of color. Science writer Harriet Washington says structural racism is a well-oiled, perpetual motion machine. "Once the structure of racism has been installed — the mythologies, beliefs, and practices — then nothing else needs to be done to continue it's onslaught on people of color," she says. How can this system of inequality be dismantled? Harriet Washington speaks with Marcella Nunez-Smith, chair of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, and David R. Williams, professor of public health at Harvard. Trymaine Lee, correspondent for MSNBC, moderates the discussion.
Explore
Related episodes
![Adobestock 134969333](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/7f5378b8-a2ec-48a5-a55b-d176a608d234/AdobeStock_134969333.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=b78045&q=80&rect=637%2C0%2C2912%2C2912&w=400)
![Adobestock 134969333](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/7f5378b8-a2ec-48a5-a55b-d176a608d234/AdobeStock_134969333.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=637%2C0%2C2912%2C2912&w=400)
In this pandemic recession, millions of Americans are going hungry, and Black and Hispanic households are hit harder than white ones. Throughout US history, hunger and health have been tied to race and now Covid-19 is affecting low-income, communities of color disproportionately.
![Adobestock 324285104](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null06b05c01-8b35-4ca9-8cd6-0d30861214de/AdobeStock_324285104.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=7d247d&q=80&rect=4002%2C0%2C4002%2C4000&w=400)
![Adobestock 324285104](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null06b05c01-8b35-4ca9-8cd6-0d30861214de/AdobeStock_324285104.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=4002%2C0%2C4002%2C4000&w=400)
It’s time to slow down and start again to remake American culture and undo systemic racism, says author and Yale professor Claudia Rankin. White Americans must wade into the waters of Whiteness, and interrogate their own responses to Blackness.
![Jelani Cobb 2018](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/5d47b896-2c57-43b0-8b2d-d2560d8fa1af/43022977772_1442ec9932_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ac473e&q=80&rect=2240%2C0%2C4480%2C4480&w=400)
![Jelani Cobb 2018](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/5d47b896-2c57-43b0-8b2d-d2560d8fa1af/43022977772_1442ec9932_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2240%2C0%2C4480%2C4480&w=400)
Today race is a more prominent and intransigent problem than ever.