Racial Equity

Racial equity is what would be achieved if race — a physical and social quality — wasn’t a factor in access to things like health care, education, wealth and other opportunities.

Racial equity is both a destination and a journey. This means that to achieve true racial equity, those most impacted by racial inequities are positioned to lead the way toward everyone having what they need to thrive, regardless of their race or where they live.

The road to racial equity will require getting rid of existing policies, systems, attitudes and messages that are rooted in racism and that get in the way of everyone having what they need.

LET’S LOOK AT SOME EXAMPLES

In Minnesota, Black and Indigenous babies die at twice the rate of white babies. Across the country, the death rate for Black newborns rises to three times that of white newborns. This is not due to any kind of biological difference, but instead is a result of inequities that impact people’s ability to live their healthiest lives.

Assessing and addressing this racial and health inequity is essential. One recent study from the University of Minnesota finds that when Black newborns are cared for by Black doctors rather than white ones, the babies’ in-hospital death rate decreases by one third. The researchers state that more study is needed in this area, and that their results highlight the impact of racial dynamics between doctors and patients on the Black-white mortality gap.

Another example:
In the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, Interstate 94 runs through several neighborhoods across both cities. According to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report, a baby born along I-94 can experience a 13-year difference in their life expectancy, depending on where they live.

This is a health inequity because it involves differences in health outcomes based on external factors. And it is a racial inequity because of the undercurrent of structural racism that contributes to this reality.

Let’s dig into that a bit more:
In the early 1900s, St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood was thriving, with half of St. Paul’s Black population living there by the 1930s. Then in the late 1950s, construction of Interstate 94 began. The freeway design ran directly through Rondo — severing the neighborhood, fracturing the community and displacing people, homes and businesses.

The impacts of decisions such as city planning contribute to economic challenges, which are connected to the health and racial equity inequities we see playing out today.

This seismic disruption to the neighborhood uprooted many of its community members — but because of racial discrimination in lending, many faced difficulty in purchasing a home or business somewhere else.

The impacts of decisions like this contributed to economic challenges, which are connected to the health and racial inequities we see playing out today.

Achieving racial equity in these situations means that a baby’s chances for a healthy life won’t be impacted by their race or where they are born. And getting to that outcome requires assessing current realities and changing systems to realize better results.