Jamila Michener (
Health Aff (Millwood). 2023 Oct;42(10):1318-1324. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2023.00509.
Racial disparities in health are among the most disconcerting forms of inequity in the United States. Divergent health outcomes between Americans racialized as White and those racialized as Black, Latinx, and Indigenous do not stem from biological or genetic differences. To the contrary, "race" comes to have concrete consequences through social, economic, and political systems. Yet the political contours of health equity remain especially understudied. This article places the politics of health equity in the foreground through the lens of housing, a critical determinant of health. Drawing on in-depth qualitative evidence rooted in the experiences of tenants who confront health-threatening housing conditions, I examine how people within racially and economically marginalized communities organize to build political power in response to those conditions. By charting how tenants navigate state and local political processes, I demonstrate the possibilities for organized tenants to wield power in ways that help advance health equity in the face of structural racism.
健康方面的种族差异是美国最令人不安的不平等形式之一。将美国人划分为白人和黑人、拉丁裔和原住民等不同种族，其健康结果存在差异，这并非源于生物学或遗传学差异。相反，“种族”通过社会、经济和政治制度产生了具体的后果。然而，健康公平的政治轮廓仍然特别缺乏研究。本文通过住房这一健康的关键决定因素这一视角，将健康公平的政治置于前沿。本文利用根植于面临威胁健康的住房条件的租户的经验的深入定性证据，研究了处于种族和经济边缘社区的人们如何组织起来，以建立政治权力来应对这些条件。通过描绘租户如何在州和地方政治进程中进行导航，我展示了有组织的租户在面对结构性种族主义时如何以有助于推进健康公平的方式行使权力的可能性。
