Anti-Racism Toolkit
As the ASH community and part of the greater medical community, we find ourselves called upon to discuss and address health disparities while teaching, conducting research and delivering care. Racism affects one's life experience in ways that have tangible consequences on our patients, our practice, and the field of medicine. Stereotyping, bias, lack of representation, and racism perpetuate false beliefs, lead to misdiagnosis, dangerously narrow clinical decision making, and perpetuate implicit bias, all of which lead to real health disparities. These forces also affect the integrity and safety of the learning climate and impact the success of future hematologists. Therefore, we at ASH have a moral imperative to confront and dismantle racism. This toolkit provides resources to help its members do that in their day-to-day practice as clinicians, researchers, and educators.
DEFINING RACISM AND CREATING AN ANTI-RACISM FRAMEWORK
Articles
A Report from Occupied Territory
James Baldwin's 1966 essay for The Nation describes the Black American experience in stark terms.
The Diversity–Innovation Paradox in Science
This study shows the contradiction of underrepresented groups fostering innovation without being proportionate rewarded.
Books
A Black Women's History of the United States
Historians Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross examine the story of Black women in America.
Between the World and Me
Ta-Nehisi Coates' book attempts to reckon with the history and burden of race in America.
Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul
Eddie S. Glaude Jr.’s book argues examines the interplay between race and democracy in the US.
Dying of Whiteness
Jonathan M. Metzl investigates how racist politics and policy have profoundly negative effects on the voters who enable them.
How To Be An Antiracist
Ibram X. Kendi's memoir explains his personal journey and imagines how antiracist principles could reshape our society.
How to Be Less Stupid About Race
Crystal M. Fleming's book cuts through the usual dialogue about race and reveals ways that society can move forward.
The Souls of Black Folk
W. E. B. Du Bois work provides a historic reflection on race's role in American society.
Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum investigates the phenomenon of self-segregation in a nominally integrated society.
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
Reni Eddo-Lodge takes a hard look at the barriers to racial justice in Britain.
Textbooks and Compilations
A Good Time for the Truth
Sixteen authors provide a range of perspectives on living as a person of color in Minnesota.
Histories of Racial Capitalism
This collection of scholarship investigates the intersections between race and capitalism.
Sister Outsider
Audre Lorde's collection of essays takes an intersectional approach to social justice.
The Cross of Redemption
This collection of James Baldwin essays tackles a variety of dimensions of American social life.
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin's essays urge the reader to confront the oppressive institutions of race, religion, and nationhood.
Courses
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
This reading and quiz from Peggy MacIntosh explores the concept and consequences of white privilege.
Talks
The Path To Ending Systemic Racism in the US
This 2020 TED Talk seeks to determine how the US can dismantle its systems of oppression and live up to its greatest ideals.
The Urgency of Intersectionality
Kimberlé Crenshaw defines intersectionality, describing the the results of combining multiple forms of exclusion.
Videos
I Am Not Your Negro
Directed by Raoul Peck, this adaptation of James Baldwin's unfinished novel tells the story of race in modern America.
UNDERSTANDING RACISM IN THE CONTEXT OF HEALTHCARE, MEDICINE, AND HEMATOLOGY
Articles
Deconstructing Inequities: Transparent Values in Measurement and Analytic Choices
This article points to Public Health Critical Race Praxis as a guiding principle for addressing health equity challenges.
Hidden in Plain Sight: reconsidering the Use of Race Correction in Clinical Algorithms
The authors reexamine the common medical practice of recording patient race and ethnicity data.
Implicity Racial/Ethnic Bias Among Health Care Professionals and Its Influence on Health Care Outcomes
This study investigates the connection between medical professionals’ implicit racial attitudes and health outcomes.
Medicine's Privileged Gatekeepers: Producing Harmful Ignorance About Racism and Health
This article from Health Affairs questions medical journals' role in perpetuating ignorance about race and health.
Misrepresenting Race: The role of Medical Schools in Propagating Physician Bias
Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, this article takes a hard look at the harms done by medical schools.
NEJM Race in Medicine Collection
This collection provides a variety of resources on the connections between race and medicine.
Pathology of Racism — A Call to Desegregate Teaching Hospitals
Dr. Kavita Vinekar writes in favor of an overhaul of medical training and residency.
Seven things organisations should be doing to combat racism
The Lancet outlines the ways in which healthcare institutions can demonstrate their commitment to racial equity.
Structural Solutions for the Rarest of the Rare - Underrepresented-Minority Faculty in Medical Subspecialties
Drs. Kemi M. Doll and Charles R. Thomas, Jr. provide strategies for the retention and promotion of underrepresented groups.
Taking Race out of Human Genetics
The authors argue against the use of biological concepts of race in human genetic research.
The coin model of privilege and critical allyship: implications for health
Dr. Stephanie Nixon calls for understanding and action on health inequities and social determinants of health.
Books
Killing the Black Body
Author Dorothy Roberts examines the historical treatment of Black women in the United States.
Medical Apartheid
Harriet A. Washington chronicles the history of medical experimentation on Black Americans.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot tells the story of the Black woman whose cells became instrumental in modern medicine.
Textbooks and Compilations
Rethining Race and Ethnicity in Your Research Methods
This collection connects research methodologies with issues of social justice and ethics.
Courses
Anti-racism in Medicine Collection
MedEdPORTAL's resources were compiled to aid the profession in its fight against health inequity and racial injustice.
Brigham and Women's Medicine Intern Social Medicine and Implicit Bias Primer
Talks
Applying the Science of Race and American Culture
Drs. Mast, Smith, and Weeks address systemic racism in research and medicine.
How Racism Makes Us Sick
David R. Williams measures the impact of discrimination on wellbeing and shows how it can sustain inequality.
Implicit Bias and Health Equity
Racial Disparities in HealthCare
Dr. Ahmar Zaidi discusses racial disparities in hematology and the US healthcare system.
The Problem with Race-Based Medicine
Dorothy Roberts explains race-based medicine -- making judgments based on skin color rather than medical observation.
Articles
Privilege 101 - The Coin Model of Privilege
Dr. Stephanie Nixon explores the role of power, privilege, and oppression in shaping health, research, and education.
Privilege, Oppression and Allyship: An Introduction for Health
Dr. Stephanie Nixon explores the principles of allyship and how to apply them in life, work, and advocacy.
The Color of Medicine: The Story of Homer G. Phillips Hospital
In this documentary, Dr. Earle U. Robinson Jr shares his personal story and demonstrates the hospital's historic significance,
ADDRESSING RACISM AND IMPLEMENTING CHANGE IN YOUR CLINICAL, ACADEMIC, AND SCHOLARY WORKS
Articles
Comparison of US Federal and Foundation Funding of SCD and Cystic Fibrosis and Factors Associated with Research Productivity
Disparities in funding exist between SCD and cystic fibrosis and may be associated with decreased research in SCD.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Hematologic Malignancies
The review discusses possible causes of and potential solutions for racial and ethnic disparities.
Racial Disparities Exist Across Age Groups in Illinois for Pulmonary Embolism Hospitalizations
This study describes contemporary rates of hospitalization for PE and examines differences by age and race/ethnicity.
Racial Disparities in Treatment Utilization for Multiple Myeloma
This study explores treatment disparities and the impact of potential access barriers.
When Actions Speak Louder than Words: Racism and Sickle Cell Disease
Drs. Alexandra Power-Hays and Patrick T. McGann propose changes to reduce the impact of racism on patients with SCD.
When Non-Whiteness Becomes a Condition
Published in Blood, this article reexamines practices in hematology that contribute to systemic racism.
Books
Dying in the City of the Blues
Keith Wailoo chronicles sickle cell anemia in the US as it relates to the African American experience.
Courses
Health Equity Rounds to Address Structural Racism for Faculty and Trainees
This activity will guide users on implicit bias and structural racism in the clinical setting.
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