HPDP Team Members Contribute to a New Blog Addressing Systemic/Structural Racism, Police Violence, and COVID-19
Our mission at the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP) is to promote health and prevent disease by addressing pressing health issues that affect the communities with whom we work. Critical to our work is close collaboration with community partners and a deep understanding of the social and economic forces that underlie poor health outcomes. COVID-19 has made it clear that long-term prevention of underlying chronic disease is critical to surviving this pandemic and that societal and economic circumstances do not give all of us an equal chance in this fight. Clearly one of the most critical “underlying conditions” of nearly all adverse health outcomes is systemic/structural racism. In our Center’s equity statement we acknowledge that the norms and institutions of white privilege perpetuate the causes and multiply the effects of health inequities. HPDP is dedicated to changing this paradigm by confronting these forces at their root and by instituting equitable practices in all aspects of our work. HPDP team members and partners are deeply involved in this work.
At this challenging time, we’d like to share some of the reflections of our colleagues who write with urgency about our societal failures at promoting racial equity, as well as hope for future change. The first two published here provide powerful insight into the “unrelenting fear” of an African American mother for her child and a plea by an African American pastor to “elevate the voices of the oppressed who are demanding justice” if we are to bring about true systemic change.
We welcome additional blog posts from HPDP team members and community partners, including those that may have already been published.
Alice Ammerman
Director, UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Blog Posts
NC has expanded food assistance during the pandemic. It should be a permanent change.
June 24, 2020In a May 12 commentary for The Progressive Pulse, Juliana de Groot contends that the recent expansion of SNAP benefits, enacted in response to COVID-19, should become a permanent change. She argues th … Read more
Surviving Racism and COVID-19 in Rural Warren County, N.C.
June 16, 2020by Rev. William Kearney, Warrenton, N.C. Food, Fitness & Opportunity Research Collaborative What’s race got to do with it? As communities across the state struggle to adapt to the devastating impa … Read more
COVID-19: The Lesser of Two Evils
June 16, 2020by Tiki Windley Project Manager, Food, Fitness and Opportunity Research Collaborative As a mom, you develop a bond with your baby that is unlike any other you will ever have. There is a love that tran … Read more