Declaring racism to be a public health emergency makes no sense whatsoever, and it does no more than increase confusion and create another opportunity for people to argue. Racism can be described as a set of beliefs regarding perceived differences between people based solely upon their ancestry, and while it is indeed a serious problem for many reasons, it does not have a direct correlation with anyone's physical or mental health. There is no medication that can change someone's beliefs or opinions about other people; in other words, thoughts cannot be changed with pills.
A reader commented on the Richland Source's Facebook page, "when someone comes up with a medication that cures racism, I'll admit it's a health crisis." This sums up the situation quite well. There isn't an anti-racism pill or injection that people can take because the problem is not physical in origin. We can not combat it until we learn how to properly frame the concept of racism. Merriam-Webster... which may very well be America's most trusted online dictionary... defines racism as “a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” How on earth can anyone justify treating a belief as a public health crisis?
A medical or health emergency is something that involves an acute injury or illness, which in no way applies to the phenomenon of racism. Medical science has successfully cured innumerable diseases. But there is no treatment that people can take to change their thoughts and beliefs. Such a medication would prove to be a gamechanger in the treatment of mental health. Hillsborough County's equity report from 2021 presents a lot of interesting and thought-provoking material, but it stops short of establishing inequity as a health emergency. Otherwise, doctors would certainly establish laboratories dedicated to researching curative and preventative medications that would prevent people from suffering or catching the disease of racism.
Can we eradicate white supremacy from society with any medicine? Of course not... no matter how great that would be. It isn't a medical problem, it is a social construct that can only be addressed by confronting the underlying beliefs that cause it. An intellectual approach is required to win the fight against racism.
According to science, DNA across human races is nearly identical. So if racism is a disease in terms of medical science, then every human on the planet should be vulnerable to this. Why does it only seem to affect some people, and how can it be transmitted remotely via internet or television? Why is there no test people can take in order to determine the percentage of racism with which someone is afflicted? Because it is in no way a medical disease. Declaring it as a health emergency only causes arguments and division, which further keeps us from finding a pragmatic solution to the inherent social evil.
Racism is a very real problem, but merely announcing that it is a "public health emergency" won’t bring any relief to marginalized people. Racial injustice and discrimination can only be changed by altering public opinion, which is a social issue, not a medical one.
