United States | News & Politics

There are so many factors to consider, but the main things one should research in terms of disparate health outcomes are: Income, access to healthy food, access to a healthy environment (again see income and housing disparities,) and access to medical care (see income again as well as bias in healthcare that affects outcomes.)

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.pdf

https://www.nrdc.org/bio/nina-sevilla/food-apartheid-racialized-access-healthy-affordable-food

https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2014/spring/racial-food-deserts/

https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/racial-disparities-in-maternal-and-infant-health-current-status-and-efforts-to-address-them/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4638275/

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2024/07/more-black-americans-die-from-effects-of-air-pollution.html

https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/who-is-at-risk/disparities

Black people are more likely to be impoverished. This means they have fewer choices and access issues when it comes to housing. They are more likely to live in areas that are affected by different types of pollution; which have long term health impacts. They have a harder time accessing healthy food because there are less likely to be decent grocery stores in their communities. If you read the article, you know that black babies are more likely to die of perinatal conditions, which are health conditions before, or right after birth, (see my point about access to healthcare and disparity of health outcomes based on race.)

While racism that causes these disparities isn't overt, it's baked in beneath all of these complex factors. Racism is absolutely a factor, it's systemic racism.