Racism, past and present, affect birth outcomes by having an effect on birthing families throughout their lives. Some examples of racial inequity that leads to poor health outcomes are:

• Racist housing covenants leading to poor housing and neighborhood conditions that persist today

• Inability to accumulate wealth for generations due to slavery, segregation, and codified oppression

• Systemic racism, including miscarriages of justice, inequitable banking policies, housing and employment discrimination, and educational segregation

• Poor treatment and bias affecting quality of health care and education

• Interpersonal racism, either overt or covert

• Internalized racism and harboring negative beliefs about own racial group

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Racism changes bodies, minds, and even genes.

 

Since 2013, BHB has convened a workgroup to build a common framework, language, and agenda for undoing racism and achieving health equity. The workgroup aims to:

• Make community voice central to planning and mobilization

• Use data to make injustice visible

• Welcome challenges to privilege and oppression

• Root out racist and discriminatory practices in our programs and workplaces and replace them with equitable ones

• Look first to partner on new funding with community-based organizations instead of larger institutions

 

BHB staff commit to anti-racist principles and participate in ongoing training and activities to learn how to dismantle racism and discrimination. During 2016-2018, 235 people from 64 agencies participated in Undoing Racism Workshops led by the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. BHB has a clear call to action: to address inequities in our systems and services that contribute to health disparities through an anti-racist lens. 

 

Coming Soon: An exploration of historical oppression in Baltimore City and how this has lead to disparities in maternal and infant health.