Change Your World Week Winter 2024 (Archived)

What is systemic racism?

“The systemic oppression of people of color, embedded and operating in corporations, universities, legal systems, political bodies, cultural life, and other social collectives” (Desmond 2020). Systemic racism needs to be addressed in every aspect of life, but health care systems especially so people can lead healthy lives.

Real life Examples

Many people of color distrust the medical system and “research studies are less likely to include members of the Black population. There are also historical cases, such as the Tuskegee syphilis experiment (1932-1972), in which Black people were subjected to medical experiments without their permission “(Hospital 2024).

Considering that psychotherapy is rooted in European culture, and the founders of psychology were white men (Hospital 2024). Another thing to take from that information is that psychotherapy was researched more on men, so if you are a woman of color, you have two roads of intersectionality that are affecting you and your treatment options. Up until recently women were not considered during studies of ADHD and we now know that ADHD presents differently in women. There are differences in health for people of different races so, when the professionals are not taking information from many different ethnicities or groups, they are only getting helpful information for one subset. Which is harmful to women, people of color, people with disabilities, and basically anyone who is different from a white man (Okoro 2022).

Why is mental health care important?

Mental health care is important, but especially for people of color, racial trauma is a thing that affects many people of color (Hospital 2024). This racial trauma can affect how people perform based on their perceived stereotype, “researchers believe that racial trauma is one of the reasons Black people in some communities have higher rates of PTSD (8.7%) compared to white people (7.4%)” (Hospital 2024). When people of color are experiencing these issues often, they have trouble receiving the care they need because the providers are not culturally competent. Without being culturally competent to people different from themselves they are missing the basis of person-centered planning “the lack of cultural sensitivity by health care professionals, African Americans feeling marginalized, and the reliance on family, community, and spiritual support instead of medical or psychiatric treatment—even when it is critically necessary” (Hospital 2024). Every single mental health professional should be culturally competent which means; compassionate treatment regardless of any ethnic, gender, sexual identity, or other differences between a therapist and a patient (Hospital 2024).

What can you do to make a change? 

There are many things you can do to make a change in the world, but to help make sure the mental health care provided to people is inclusive and accessible everywhere is become a social worker. Change the system from within, Delta College offers an associates in arts degree with many extracurricular options that transfer to many universities within the state of Michigan. Thanks to the Michigan Transfer Agreement community colleges are great stepping stones for a university. I personally am transferring to Northern Michigan university to finish my BSW and eventually move on to my MSW! 

You can also sign many different petitions at or donate to the Black Women's Health Imperative which is the first non-profit that is dedicated to improving health care for black women globally. I specifically chose to get more information on the My Sister's Keeper program that empowers black women to become advocates and leaders for other black women and has a large focus on female reproductive rights. 

Works Cited 

Alang, Sirry M. “Mental Health Care among Blacks in America: Confronting Racism and Constructing Solutions.” Health Services Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6407345/.

Desmond, Matthew, and Mustafa Emirbayer. Race in America. 2nd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2020.

Hospital, Mclean. “Black Mental Health: What You Need to Know.” Understanding Mental Health in Black Communities | McLean Hospital, 29 Jan. 2024, www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/black-mental-health.

Okoro, O. N., et al. “Intersectional Invisibility Experiences of Low-Income African-American Women in Healthcare Encounters.” Ethnicity & Health, vol. 27, no. 6, Aug. 2022, pp. 1290–309. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.ezproxy.delta.edu/10.1080/13557858.2021.1899138.

Psych Hub. “Racism and Mental Health.” YouTube, YouTube, 5 Oct. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV4Hk4PQ4Tc.

U.S. of Health and Human Services. “Prioritizing Minority Mental Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 27 June 2023, www.cdc.gov/healthequity/features/minority-mental-health/index.html.