Jake Webb

Mr. Wills

English

May 1, 2017

The Real Effects of Racism

David R. Williams and Miriam Zoila Perez both explain how Racism can lead to health problems

and death. In How Racism Makes Us Sick, David R. Williams explains how white people get better

service and more resources than black people and this causes higher death rates among African American

communities. In the second text, Miriam Zoila Perez explains how racism harms pregnant women and

their childs birth. The way we treat each other can result in people dying.

Race matters for health. Robert R. Williams measures racism to show how racism can affect a

persons health. He says, Research has found that higher levels of discrimination are associated with an

elevated risk of a broad range of diseases from blood pressure to abdominal obesity to breast cancer to

heart disease and even premature mortality (5:32-6:31). This shows the physical affects of racism.

Miriam Zoila Perez explains how race matters for health when she says, People who experience more

discrimination are more likely to have poor health (2:26-3:37). This shows how Miriam Zoila Perez and

Robert R. Williams are talking about racism affecting a persons health.

White people get better service than black people. Robert Williams explains how the quality of

service between blacks and whites are different. He says, in 1999, the national academy of medicine

asked me to serve on a committee that found, concluded based on the scientific evidence, that blacks and

other minorities receive poorer quality care than whites (6:31-7:50). Based on this knowledge you are

able to determine that the quality of service compared to whites was bad, showing how there is racism.

Miriam Zoila Perez also explains how white people get better service than black people when she says,

African-American women in particular have an entirely different experience than white women when it
comes to whether their babies are born healthy (3:57-4:31). Miriam Zoila Perez and Robert R. Williams

are saying that white people get better service than black people.

People are dying because of racism. Robert WIlliams gave an example of the life gap between

blacks and whites during his ted talk. He said, at every level of education, whites live longer than blacks.

So whites who are high school dropouts live 3.4 years longer than their black counterparts, and the gap is

even larger among college graduates (2:09-3:27). Robert williams is showing how people are dying

because black and white people dont get the same treatment. Another example of people dying of racism

is shown through Miriam Zoila Perez Ted talk. In the middle of her speech she says, In certain parts of

the country, particularly the Deep South, the rates of mother and infant death for black women actually

approximate those rates in Sub-Saharan African. In those same communities, the rates for white women

are near zero (3:57-4:31). Both of these quotes show how people are dying of racism.

In conclusion, when Robert R. Williams and Miriam Zoila Perez spoke their Ted talks, they

explained how racism could lead to health problems and death. Text 1 shows how racism creates fear,

stress, and worry which is unhealthy for a person and can cause early death. In text 2, Fear stress and

worry is proven to cause early pregnancy with an undeveloped fetus. In result, both texts talk about

racism affecting health and causing early death.

Work Cited

Perez, Z. Perez. How Racism Harms Pregnant Women - and What Can Help. TEDWomen 2016, San

Francisco, Ca. Conference Presentation.

Williams, Robert. How Racism Makes Us Sick. TEDMED 2016, Palm Springs, Ca. Conference

Presentation.