While the United States ranks as the international leader in biomedical research, one doesn’t have to look far to find complaints about the quality of healthcare in the United States. From service users to the Institute of Medicine, a universal cry has gone out for more compassionate, person-centered care. In short, people want to be heard and understood by their providers. They want their visits to start out with the two simple questions posed by Mitch Kaminski: What are your goals for your care? How can I help you? However, these questions can’t be asked in a vacuum. They have to be asked within a continuous, healing relationship that focuses not just on disease and illness, but strengths and wellness.
Rachel Latta
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Sam* had an intense stare. She would look at you, eyes unblinking, with an intensity that was unwavering. It was hard not to feel uncomfortable under that gaze—to search for what it was you had said or done that was worthy of such concentrated scrutiny. Perhaps if she hadn’t seemed so intimidating, I would have asked her about her gaze the first time she locked her eyes with mine. But her very presence didn’t invite questions. Her small, but lean and muscular frame matching the hardness in her face; her skin weathered and aged by years of drug and alcohol use and a life full of uncertainty about the most basic needs—shelter, food, money to survive.
Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Eric Garner. These black men’s deaths have sparked national outrage about the differential treatment of men of color by personnel in the criminal justice system.
Racism is embedded in our institutions. Well-intentioned people carry out racist policies and become part of institutionalized racism, just by being a part of these systems. We need to start with a hard look at our policies and systems to understand how institutionalized racism has been codified. If we want to change the criminal justice systems, our efforts cannot just be targeted there. We need to start earlier in the process. We need to think about how other systems teach our future lawyers, police officers, and judges that discrimination against people of color, and specifically Black people, is acceptable and expected.
