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Dominic Pizarro

Professor Sartin

AFRS 100-04

1 October 2013

Impact of Racism upon Personal Health

Racism has been the bane of America beginning with the slave trade and continuing

presently despite our election of an African American president. Although racism may not be as

apparent, its influence exists within the health disparities encountered by African Americans.

Dominica Francoise McBride published her article “Manifesting Empowerment: How a Family

Health Program Can Address Racism” in the Journal of Black Psychology 2011, detailing

her study on the effects of current health disparities on African Americans’ physical health.

McBride’s research points to the larger issue of deterioration of the African American by unbri-

dled racism. Underlying racism currently in society causes African Americans to develop physi-

cal health complications, emotional distress, and low self-esteem.

In “Manifesting Empowerment: How a Family Health Program Can Address Racism,”

McBride begins by displaying the lack of progress in health care provided to African Americans,

and by doing so explains the exigence of addressing racism in individual and community envi-

ronments (McBride 337). McBride refrences Kirk Davis’ replication of Clark and Clark’s doll

study, as an example of the continued negative mindset towards darker skin color. The children

in Davis’ study were given a black and white doll, and when asked which doll they “liked the

best” or thought was the “nice doll” 15 out of 21 children chose the white doll (McBride 338). In

an effort to address the issue of racism, McBride conducted a study inquiring from African

American parents/guardians and health care professionals what would be necessary to construct a

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“culturally responsive family health program(FHP). (McBride 340)” Family, McBride claims, is

a “prominent cultural tool and resource”, a needed factor in the equation of abolishing racism;

McBride also understood African American parents are tasked with what M.F. Peters describes

as racial socialization, the need to provide for and raise children “within the mundane extreme

environmental stress of racism” and raise “physically and emotionally healthy children who are

Black in a society which being Black has negative connotations. (McBride 339)” McBride in-

cluded professionals in her study to maintain an objective position and provide an informed pro-

fessional outlook of the issue. After separating the parents/guardians and the professionals into

two focus groups, each group was given a demographic survey followed by a 1.5 hour group dis-

cussion guided by preset questions. The documented results proposed a six part solution: “en-

hancing self-esteem and empowering the individual, providing positive Black role models for

youth, highlighting talents and manifesting strengths, education, increasing cohesion within the

Black community, and increasing cohesion with other ethnic groups within a community.

(McBride 344)”

McBride presents a strong argument throughout her article, beginning with a concrete es-

tablishment of racism and what she asserts must be done to prevent the further growth of racism.

The references to Davis’ study and Peters’ definition of racial socialization are essential to the

foundation of McBride’s study and the shaping of her decision to choose African American par-

ents/guardians as study participants. Although McBride includes afore mentioned refrences and

produces a large amount of validity concerning her argument, she fails to provide the viewpoint

of a large social group highly affected by racism, African American youth. McBride’s limitation

of her study to one neighborhood and not including the youth’s perspective, causes the results to

lack additional information needed to ensure success of an FHP. The failure to implement the

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study results in an actual FHP, diminishes McBride’s finding and raises the question whether the

results could work in practice and not only theory.

Viewing this topic from a broader perspective, the larger issue of underlying racism in

society becomes evident. Throughout schools, workplaces, and everyday activities, African

Americans are subject to the negative effects of racism. A young child who attends school and is

teased for the color of his skin can develop great emotional stress to the point of committing sui-

cide. An African American who works in a racial environment could develop health complica-

tions leading to an early death. The failure to accept the African American culture and people,

causes harm on an immense scale not only for African Americans, but for the positive develop-

ment of the entire society. A society is not truly functioning until as Martin Luther King, Jr.

stated in his speech “I Have A Dream,” “...little black boys and black girls will be able to join

hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. (King 676) ” Racism is a

virus which continues to plague society, but is not as evident as in the past; the key to preventing

the growth of racism is to abolish the disparities between what ethnicities receive in healthcare,

education, and overall quality of life.

McBride developed a strong exigence for healthcare reform in her study and addressed

the larger issue of unbridled racism in society. Since the Emancipation Proclamation, America

has strived towards the abolishment of racism, and should continue pursuing that goal. If racism

is left unchecked, the African American community will continue to face its current hardships. In

a country that pledges to give every individual “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” should

not idly standby as a racial minority is unable to receive equal treatment. A national standard of

equality must be set and not affected by racial discrimination for progress to continue.

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Works Cited

King, Jr., Martin Luther. “I Have a Dream” Call and Response: Key Debates in African

American Studies. Eds. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Jennifer Burton. New York:

Norton & Co, 2011. 

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McBride, Dominica. "Manifesting Empowerment: How a Family Health Program Can Address

Racism." Journal of Black Psychology, 37.3 (2011): 336-356.