The Effects of Everyday Racism
Katie Hawkins
October 31th, 2012
Racism Comment-and-Critique Paper
Professor Williams
The Effects of Everyday Racism
Imagine being an African American woman, or any woman for that matter and
doing all the right things during pregnancy; eating properly, exercising and taking all
your vitamins, yet still having a premature, unhealthy baby. This is very common in
America with African American women, with an extremely telling example being Kim
Anderson. The worrying factor when looking at situations of these women is that it does
not always reflect on their “education, prenatal care or lifestyle,” but it reflects on the
constant racist oppression America puts on them, whether they are conscious of that
stress they incur or not (Tracy Heather Strain, Randall, MacLowry, and Eric Stange
2008). However, innocent babies’ lives are in danger because “racism is taking a toll on
African American children even before they leave their mother’s wombs,” which adds to
the numerous reasons why all of America needs to start being more proactive about
stopping racism (Strain et al. 2008).
Similar to The movie Unnatural Causes, where Tracy Heather Strain, Randall,
MacLowry, and Eric Stangezz speak about Kim Anderson in the segment When The
Bough Breaks, Joseph L. Graves, Jr. also devotes chapters of his book, The Race Myth, to
the grave issue of “ethnic health disparity” (Joseph L. Graves, Jr. 2004:106). Americans
and American immigrants constantly look at African Americans as lazy when they cannot
get jobs and blame genetics for health disparity and say that they need to help themselves
as they did. They say this without taking into account the fact that African Americans are
one of the most oppressed racial groups in the United States and even when they take one
step forward they are pushed five steps backward because of this racist society. Graves
Jr.’s response to this is, “Our history is one in which the social dominance of one group
provided them supportive environments and toxic environments for those it oppressed.
This is the real source of health disparity, not subtle differences in gene frequency”
(Graves 2004: 122).
Graves Jr. begins and ends his chapter on ethnic health disparity by quoting what
the founding fathers wish America to stand for; “life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness,” which is, unfortunately, not the case for many Americans today because
“nonwhites have died and continue to die at higher rates to improve the prospects of life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for the dominant group” (Graves 2004:106). Those
that strive for a better life and are educated and successful are held back everyday and
live shorter and unhappier lives simply because of the color of their skin. In the book
Race in North America, Audrey Smedley and Brian D. Smedley makes a compelling
statement which relates a lot to the movie Unnatural Causes, when they say, “Racial and
ethnic health disparities persist from the cradle to the grave” (Audrey Smedley and Brian
D. Smedley 2012: 331). Children every day are born prematurely and unhealthy because
of their mothers being oppressed and their grandmother being oppressed; so day-by-day
and year-by-year racism causes this vicious cycle to continue.
Kim Anderson spoke about her experience with racism and how it caused her
first child to be born prematurely, weighing approximately only two pounds (Strain et al.
2008). It may have seemed like Anderson was not affected by racism in her everyday life,
she even says it herself, “people would think I am living the American dream,” as she is a
successful Atlanta executive and Lawyer, “good husband, great family” and living in a
nice house (Kim Anderson 2008). It is actually said that “one of the best predictors for
healthy pregnancy outcomes is higher education,” which is just not true in the case of
Kim and many others (Strain et al. 2008). As one can only imagine Anderson felt
helpless! She was healthy, ate healthy, exercised, never smoked and yet that still
happened to her baby. How is it that “the United States has one of the worst infant
survival rates in the industrialized world,” when the United States is so economically
wealthy? Racism. Racism is the problem and getting rid of it is the only solution.
In class, a black girl said that very few racist and stereotypical comments bother
her anymore, but the professor responded to her by letting her know that even though she
may think that those comments do not consciously bother her, they definitely bother her
subconsciously. Racist comments, no matter how big or how small of an affect they have
on you, they affect you nonetheless. The stress that it has on your body constantly takes a
toll on you emotionally, physically and mentally. And it is not just lower status African
Americans that incur this type of stress, but in reality “higher African Americans are
exposed to greater stress as a result of their social position. The socially dominant group
responds with hostility toward a member of a socially oppressed group within their
midst” (Graves 2004:133). Despite the fact that Americans look at African Americans
and tell them to help themselves, they really mean for them to help themselves to help the
rich, white, upper class Americans and never think of surpassing them. This stress
continues to affect their lives and consequently their children’s lives. The premature, and
unhealthy births will not cease until racism is discontinued. This is not a fight that
African Americans can win on their own. All of America needs to take a stand together to
make this change; even if it starts with calling out one racist at a time.
Works Cited
Graves, Joseph L. Jr. 2004. “The Race Myth: why we pretend race exists in America.” New
York: Dutton, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Smedley, Audrey and Smedley, Brian D. 2012. “Race In North America: origin and evolution of
a worldview.” 4th edition. Colorado: Westview Press.
Strain, H. (Producer & Director). (2008). Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?
[Documentary Series]. California: California Newsreel with Vital Pictures.