The Appeal interviewed Chandra Ford, professor of community health sciences and founding director of the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Healthabout a new bill that has been introduced which would create a National Center on Anti-Racism in Health.
As the COVID-19 pandemic and police violence continue to disproportionately affect Black Americans, federal lawmakers are outlining a plan to address racism as a public health issue.
The bill, introduced in both chambers of Congress on Thursday by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Barbara Lee, would create a National Center on Anti-Racism in Health and a law enforcement violence prevention program within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It formally names racism as a public health issue, calls for research and data collection on the public health impacts of structural racism, and directs the federal government to start developing anti-racist health policy.
Experts who focus on racism and public health praised the legislation.
