It takes 21 days to form a habit. 

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Week 4: Public Health 
Today's Challenge: Racism/Bias in Medical Care Historically
 “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
- James Baldwin
The history of the exploitation and brutalization of people of color by doctors and others in the medical field is one of America's most tragic and largely untold stories. Thanks to the work of people like Harriet Washington, author of Medical Apartheid, there is a new willingness to grapple with the impact of this trauma. Knowing our past is the first step towards a more equitable future.

We Challenge You To Take...

Listen to this podcast about the United States Supreme Court ruling, Buck v. Bell, that institutionalized the racist eugenics movement and led to 70,000 forced sterilizations of people of color and people with physical and mental disabilities.
LISTEN

Read this article that explains the many differences that Black and white Americans experience in the health care system dating back to the 1930s in this county.
READ
Read this chilling article about how racist stereotypes led to approximately 20,000 people – many of them Latinx – being forcibly sterilized, the documentation that supported these procedures, and how this is echoed in the political landscape today. 
READ

Have some extra time today? Listen to this podcast during your commute, while folding laundry or during your afternoon walk to discover how newly emancipated slaves were freed without access to any resources, particularly health care, and how that played a major role in building the nation's first federal health care programs.
LISTEN

Public Health Week Action Items

Learn more about Black Mamas Matter Alliance that is referenced in above resources by clicking HERE.
Talk to your company/organization's HR department about their parental leave policy and other systems in place to support new parents.
Write a letter to your local elected officials urging them to declare racism a public health crisis. Chattanooga and Memphis already have. Here is a list of Knoxville's City Council members. 
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