Studies conducted as recent as 2022 have shown that white doctors often use negative descriptors of Black (but not white) patients in their charts. This kind of racism has deep roots in a painful history of medical exploitation and systemic neglect.
From the experimentation on enslaved Black women to the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study in which Black men were forced to suffer untreated for decades, Black bodies have long been used and abused by the medical establishment. These violations didn't just damage our physical health—they also planted deep mistrust in healthcare that continues today.
This distrust is not unfounded. In kidney care, a race-based algorithm took Black patients' kidney function scores and artificially inflated them, making them appear healthier, thus delaying their access to transplant lists. The consequence? Thousands of Black Americans were deprived of life-saving interventions.
Chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease disproportionately affect Black communities. These ailments are fueled by conditions like hypertension and diabetes—conditions that have more to do with environmental and social inequities than with genetic predisposition alone. The system has made it so racism, not biology, determines medical outcomes.
Behavior like this isn’t new or unique. It's a symptom of an enduring legacy. We must reckon with the long history of medical racism, reject anti-Blackness in all forms, and rebuild systems that honor and protect Black lives, both medical professionals and patients.