Lekeisha Sumner: The world watches Ferguson, but racial discrimination is also a health issue

[LuckyTheDog]

The killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the city’s handling of the case and subsequent protests has once again focused minds on race discrimination in the US. Just how quickly the incident became incendiary shows how tension and segregation are never far from the surface.

The problem in the U.S. isn’t just about the criminal justice system, but about widespread discrimination in all walks of life. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recently discussed the treatment of ethnic minorities in the U.S. Yet one implication of this still remains largely overlooked: health.

In the United States, African Americans account for a disproportionate share of many of the leading health conditions and, according to the Institute of Medicine and Centers for Disease Control, ethnic discrimination plays a role in these health inequities.

MORE HERE: http://wonkynewsnerd.com/racial-discrimination-is-a-health-issue-across-the-u-s/

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. The healthcare world is aware of this, and one of the goals of the

'Healthy People 2020' initiative is reducing racial healthcare disparities. As a side note, while African Americans are noted in your excerpted text, things are even worse for Native Americans in a number of health issues.