Racial Justice

Amalia Dache sitting criss-cross applesauce on a sea wall in Cuba reading a book.

What you need to know about the protests in Cuba

Penn GSE’s Amalia Dache traveled to Cuba in 2018 and 2019 to research the Afro Cuban experience, and the opportunities that existed—or were closed off from—the island nation’s significant Black population.

From Penn GSE ・

Drawing of books, an African American student’s face, a diploma, a fist in the air.

In These Times: Race and repair

OMNIA’s final episodes look into how institutions have perpetuated racial hierarchies, how the past reverberates through the present, and consider what justice looks like.

From OMNIA ・

drawing of diverse group of people

The use and misuse of race in health care

In a Q&A, PIK Professor Sarah Tishkoff, the Perelman School of Medicine’s Giorgio Sirugo, and Case Western Reserve University’s Scott Williams shed light on the “quagmire” of race, ethnicity, genetic ancestry, and environmental factors and their contribution to health disparities.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

Aerial view of several blocks of rowhouses in Philadelphia.

A fair housing law proposal to promote racial and economic integration

A research brief co-authored by Provost Wendell Pritchett proposes the use of fair housing law to work toward the end of segregation, and emphasize that the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing provision of the Fair Housing Act extends to all federal agencies.

From Penn Law ・



In the News


NPR

Afro-Cubans come out in droves to protest government

Amalia Dache of the Graduate School of Education spoke about the history of racial disparities and injustices in Cuba. “When we're thinking about global solidarity with Black people, especially right now, we need all hands on deck,” she said.

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Science

How scientists are subtracting race from medical risk calculators

Nwamaka Eneanya of the Perelman School of Medicine said researchers need to consider the drivers of health disparities, rather than merely correlating race with health outcomes. “That’s not a standard that is expected of scientists in this day and age, and it needs to be,” she says. “This is a wake-up call for the scientific community.”

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NBC News

COVID plus overdose deaths drove down life expectancy in 2020

Irma Elo of the School of Arts & Sciences said the decline in life expectancy among Black and Latinx Americans reflects unequal access to health care and class privilege. "The people who have disproportionately suffered from this pandemic were the same people who were put in positions where they were more likely to be exposed because of their employment," she said.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

To honor John Lewis, we must turn back the rising tide of voter suppression

Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts & Sciences wrote about the resurgence of voter suppression laws in the U.S. To preserve the right to vote, Berry said, “We must pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. And to do that, we must remove the Senate filibuster as a barrier to the legislation.”

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The New York Times

How to raise kids who won’t be racist

Howard Stevenson of the Graduate School of Education offered tips for how parents can address racist or insensitive comments made by children. “Get a sense of what they understand it to mean from their perspective,” he said. “Where did they hear it from? How is it being used in the social context they’re in? Then you have a better angle to how you can speak to it.”

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6ABC.com

Study finds that higher death rates for Black COVID patients tied to hospital quality

David Asch of the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School spoke about his research on racial disparities in health outcomes for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. "Perhaps the main reason that Black patients tend to have worse outcomes than white patients is because they go to hospitals that provide worse care for all," he said. "I think it's a story of racial residential segregation. Most people go to hospitals near where they live. And we fund hospitals very much by local resources."

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