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Racial Justice

Response to the Cuban protest is ‘a unified feeling’
People standing on the streets of Havana in protest of the Cuban government.

Protests in Havana against the government of Cuba on July 12, 2021. (Image: 14ymedio)

Response to the Cuban protest is ‘a unified feeling’

In a Q&A, Romance languages professor Odette Casamayor-Cisneros discusses the Cuban protests, government response, and the “sense of unity” among the Cuban people

Kristina García

Decades of Penn research shows how structural racism affects Black children with type 1 diabetes

Decades of Penn research shows how structural racism affects Black children with type 1 diabetes

Research co-authored by Terri Lipman of the School of Nursing and Colin Hawkes of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that disproportionately poor health outcomes for Black children with Type 1 diabetes are predominately caused by structural racism. “There’s certainly an element of blame, when it’s proposed that patients need to be better or behaviors need to change,” she said. “The focus needs to be on the health care team.”

Reproductive justice in nursing
A transgender person wearing a medical gown sits on an exam table speaking to a doctor.

Image: The Gender Spectrum Collection

Reproductive justice in nursing

The Penn chapter of Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health works to expand students’ engagement in Reproductive justice.
How racial bias can limit internet access for people of color
Glass door entrance of a cafe with signs indicating free Wifi, Open 24 hours, no dogs allowed.

How racial bias can limit internet access for people of color

A new study finds that the quality-of-life policing is used by powerful institutions and privileged people to keep those with less privilege, including people of color, from accessing resources like the internet.

From Annenberg School for Communication

The role of race and ethnicity in medicine

The role of race and ethnicity in medicine

Jaya Aysola and Amaka Eneanya of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about how the medical field interprets race and ethnicity. Aysola’s research shows evidence of racial bias in medical school curricula: “The most prevailing issue was this continued mischaracterization of race and ethnicity as a biomedical term, when we know it to be a social construct.”

Afro-Cubans come out in droves to protest government

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.

What you need to know about the protests in Cuba
Amalia Dache sitting criss-cross applesauce on a sea wall in Cuba reading a book.

Amalia Dache during a research trip to Cuba. (Image: Courtesy of  Santiel Rodríguez Velázquez)

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

How scientists are subtracting race from medical risk calculators

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.”

COVID plus overdose deaths drove down life expectancy in 2020

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.

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

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.”