Racism in America; It’s a topic of conversation at the forefront of the twenty-four hour news cycle and one that desperately needs to be addressed within the country. Leaders in Democrat-run cities within the state of Ohio, in an effort to heal the damaging effects of prejudice, declared racism a public health crisis. This step effectively grants local communities the right to address issues that face black people in America, who’ve historically suffered the most from racism, utilizing government funding. While helping communities overcome the potential issues they face, government spending will do little to nothing to fix racism within the country. The only way to cure the sickness is to treat the individuals who are sick.
Interpersonal racism exists when internalized racism (individuals with inherent bias against groups who are different from them) meets mental illness. The disease creates an environment within the brain of the sick individual that subjects them to delusional behavior, like believing that people who are different from them are inferior or somehow less deserving of the same rights and freedoms that they enjoy. These paranoid and delusional thoughts and ideologies make it easier for the individual who is suffering from the disease to justify words and actions against the groups of people they believe are responsible for creating an imperfect environment, for them, in what would otherwise be a perfect world.
Research shows that racist behaviors are rooted in psychological illness. These tendencies, combined with external factors (like mentally ill individuals being in positions of authority over those they deem as a threat), create a dangerous scenario for everyone involved. Examples of this are evident in reviewing stories of police brutality and aggression that have contributed to black deaths across the United States. Declaring racism an illness that exists within certain individuals would go a long way in helping to treat people suffering from mental illness and, in turn, could pave the road to curing the sickness of racism all together.
Government spending in communities where people of color are often targeted by racists does very little to actually address the underlying issue and could potentially further exacerbate the problem. While racism is something that impacts us all, it is not a public health crisis that should be addressed only in urban areas. Racism is a treatable sickness that exists within the individual who exhibits prejudiced behaviors.
City officials across the state of Ohio would better serve the people who live there by making mental health for all people a top priority rather than stretching budgets in a fruitless effort that will do nothing to cure the actual problem. Providing more funding for one group over another only serves to further the divide and maintain an “us vs. them” mentality between communities.
Providing funding, relief, and aid to better any community that faces hardship is an important role of local and state officials. No one argues that fact. Targeting racism by declaring it a public health crisis will never fix the underlying mental health issues that cause racism within the country. Making concentrated efforts to address racism at its roots is the only way we can ever hope to eradicate this disease that’s plagued our nation for hundreds of years.
