When COVID-19 first appeared in North America, some called it the great equalizer. But the facts quickly revealed a grim reality: COVID-19 disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, poor and racialized communities.
We started our conversations with this episode’s guest, Roberta Timothy, about a year ago at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Roberta is a health and human rights researcher and a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. But her work is not just theoretical. As a therapist and activist, she is intimately connected to her community.
She says there are many reasons for health disparities. Some of these are historical, some are social. These are called the social determinants of health. Roberta was not alone at the start of the pandemic when she highlighted the fatal consequences of not dealing with these factors earlier.
In this episode, she talks about her new international health project, Black Health Matters, and reflects on the year and explains why racial justice is a public health issue.
In this episode, we discuss:
- historical scientific racism and a resulting fear of vaccines
- how grief is a direct impact of racism
- the challenges of being funded as a Black researcher
- international research alliances
- Black Health Matters project
For a full transcript of this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, go here.
Every week, we highlight articles that drill down into the topics we discuss in the episode.
This week:
Roberta Timothy discusses five ways to address internalized white supremacy and its impact on health.
Esther Jones explains the history of medical abuse in the U.S. and why many Black Americans aren’t rushing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
In case you missed it:
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This podcast is produced by The Conversation with a grant for Journalism Innovation from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
It is hosted and produced by Vinita Srivastava. The producers are: Nahid Buie, Ibrahim Daair, Anowa Quarcoo, Latifa Abdin, Vicky Mochama, Nehal El-Hadi. Sound engineer: Reza Dahya. Audience development: Lisa Varano.
Theme music by Zaki Ibrahim. Logo by Zoe Jazz. Saniya Rashid is our research assistant supported by MITACS. Our CEO is Scott White. Thanks to Jennifer Moroz for her advice. Launch team: Imriel Morgan/Content is Queen.