Running head: RACISM TODAY
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Racism and the Human Services Field
Jane Doe
Liberty University
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I. Introduction
A. Introduction to the social problem of racism.
1. “Racism can be defined as phenomena that maintain or exacerbate
avoidable and unfair inequalities in power, resources or
opportunities across racial, ethnic, cultural or religious groups
(Paradies, Truong, and Priest, 2013).
B. Introduction to quality health care
1. The Institute of Medicine defines quality health care as care that is
timely, efficient, effective, safe, patient-centered, and equitable
(Nelson, 2016).
C. Introduction to medical health care disparities.
1. A definition and examples of medical health care disparities will be
introduced.
D. The human service professional and racism
1. Human service professionals abide by a set of ethical standards
which encompass the responsibility to the public to provide services
without discrimination to race or ethnicity.
II. Historical
A. History of Racism
1. Racism is a mindset rooted in the hearts of individuals who desire
to dominate, exploit, or assault others.
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2. “Decades of research on racial attitudes in the U.S. confirms the
fact that there is more racial prejudice in the Christian church that
outside it” (Sanou, 2015)
B. Biblical examples of oppression
1. The Pharisees didn’t like the fact that Jesus sat to eat with the tax
collectors and sinners (Mark 2:13-17)
2. The Pharisees bring the adulteress to Jesus to be stoned for her sin
(John 8:3-10).
C. Historical information about medical health care disparities.
1. “Decades of research indicate that a serious U.S. public health
problem involves systemic white racism and its negative effects on
minds and bodies in all racial groups, especially Americans of
color” (Feagin & Bennefield, 2013).
III. Possible Causation of Medical Disparities
A. Systemic racism theory
1. There are five major dimensions of the systemic racism theory.
They include the dominant racial hierarchy, comprehensive white
racial framing, individual and collective discrimination, social
reproduction of racial material inequalities and racist institutions
integral to white domination of Americans of color (Feagin &
Bennefield, 2013).
B. Scientifically speaking, what is race?
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1.
The human genome project was complete in 2003 proved that there
is no scientific reason for the difference races (Nelson, Prasad, &
Hackman, 2015).
C. Causes
1.
In 2002, a report was put out from the Institute of Medicine in
regards to health care disparities and unequal treatment to people of
color. This report showed that racial disparities in the health care
industry do exist and possible causes showed as provider bias,
stereotyping, and prejudice as contributing factors to this issue
(Nelson, Prasad, & Hackman, 2015).
VI. Corrective Actions and Prevention
A. The Undoing Racism Workshop
1. As human service professionals are called on more and more to
address the effects of racism a movement towards organization
change to promote the undoing of racism was created to help
encourage participants.
2. The workshop was created to inspire attendees to go back to their
place of employment and use some of the tools that they learned at
the workshop to help advance racial equity within their workplace
environment (Abramovitz & Blitz, 2015).
B. Education
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1. “Education can be either a democratizing social force or a site for
inequality reproduction and racial repression; perhaps even both”
(Seamster and Henricks, 2015).
2. A human service professional is committed to continuing the pursuit
of education in all areas that a human service professional
encounters in their profession.
C. Service learning
1. Service learning can be defined as learning through an experience,
it is a community-based approach to education that investigates the
needs of a community while at the same time supporting a course’s
learning objective (Reed-Bouley & Kyle, 2015).
V. Culture and health care disparities
A. Researchers and data
1. Scholars and researchers often rely on acculturation when
producing research which doesn’t often give credit to the individual
races involved in the research (Viruell-Fuented, Miranda, &
Abdulrahim, 2012).
D. Evidence based research
1. Despite growing research in regards to the health impacts of racism,
the overall evidence base has yet to be accumulated in a
comprehensive format that exclusively considers racism as a
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negative impact on health (Paradies, Ben, Denson, Elias, Priest,
Pieterse, Gupta, Kelaher, & Gee, 2015).
E. Cultural competence
1. It’s essential that a human service professional or educator can
effectively communicate and work with minorities and people of
color (Martin, 2014, p.78).
IV. Biblical Worldview
A. Do not show partiality
1. Proverbs 24:23 teaches that if an individual is wise it is good that
they do not show partiality.
2. Acts 10:34-15 teaches that God does not show partiality.
3. James 2:9 explains that if you do show partiality you are
committing an offense to God.
B. One Lord who sits on the throne
1. Romans 10:12-13 teaches that the same Lord reigns over all who
call on His name, Greek or Jew, rich or poor.
2. Ephesians 4:4-6 teaches that there is one Lord who is above all and
in all.
C. Above all love one another
1. Matthew 22:37 explains that the greatest commandment of all is to
love the Lord.
2. 1 Peter 4:8 teaches that above all have an ardent sincere love for
one another.
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3. 1 Corinthians 13:13 teaches that a human should have faith, hope,
and love in their hearts, but love is the greatest out of all.
V. Conclusion
A. Conclusion to the social problem of racism
1. Undoing racism is a very hard job, but do to the current intense
racial issues in society it is more difficult but even more critical for
individuals and organizations to invest in racial equity and cultural
competence trainings for their staff (Abramovitz & Blitz, 2015).
B. Conclusion to medical health care disparities
1. “Despite a burgeoning interest in racism as a contributor to these
disparities, we still know relatively little about the extent of
healthcare provider racism or how best to measure it (Paradies,
Truong, & Priest, 2013).
C. Conclusion for the human service professional who encounters racism
2. A human service professional must be knowledgeable about their
community and social issues such as racism, staying educated in
multiculturalism in the hopes of aiding their clients in the best way
possible.
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References
Abramovitz, M., & Blitz, L. V. (2015). Moving toward racial equity: The undoing racism
workshop and organizational change. Race and Social Problems, 7(2), 97-110.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12552-015-9147-4
Feagin, J., & Bennefield, Z. (2014). Systemic racism and U.S. health care. Social Science &
Medicine, 103, 7-14. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.09.006
Martin, M. E. (2014). Introduction to human services: Through the eyes of practice settings
(3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon, Inc.
Nelson, S., M.D. (2016). Race, racism, and health disparities: What can I do about it? Creative
Nursing, 22(3), 161-165. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1891/1078-4535.22.3.161
Nelson, S. C., Prasad, S., & Hackman, H. W. (2015). Training providers on issues of race and
racism improve health care equity: Race, racism, and medicine. Pediatric Blood &
Cancer, 62(5), 915-917. doi:10.1002/pbc.25448
Paradies, Y., Ben, J., Denson, N., Elias, A., Priest, N., Pieterse, A., . . . Gee, G. (2015). Racism as
a determinant of health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS One, 10(9),
e0138511. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138511
Paradies, Y., Truong, M., & Priest, N. (2014). A systematic review of the extent and measurement
of healthcare provider racism. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 29(2), 364-387.
doi:10.1007/s11606-013-2583-1
Reed‐Bouley, J., & Kyle, E. (2015). Challenging racism and white privilege in undergraduate
theology contexts: Teaching and learning strategies for maximizing the promise of
community Service‐Learning. Teaching Theology & Religion, 18(1), 20-36.
doi:10.1111/teth.12260
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Sanou, B. (2015). ethnicity, tribalism and racism: A global challenge for the christian church and
its mission. The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership, 9(1), 94.
Seamster, L., & Henricks, K. (2015). A second redemption? racism, backlash politics, and public
education. Humanity & Society, 39(4), 363-375.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0160597615604926
Viruell-Fuentes, E. A., Miranda, P. Y., & Abdulrahim, S. (2012). More than culture: Structural
racism, intersectionality theory, and immigrant health. Social Science & Medicine, 75(12),
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