Table 1.

Definitions.

Race and Racism

Race is a socially and politically constructed way of grouping people (3 ). Racism is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on how one looks, which unfairly advantages some, disadvantages others, and saps the strength of the whole society (4 ). Historically, racism has operated as a socio-political and economic construct rooted in the violation of dignity, humanity, personhood, and self-determination of communities and their access to land, resources, and basic human rights. Racism operates across ecological levels and societal structures (4 ). Utilizing Dr. Jones' theoretical framework, this paper identifies racism operating at three levels: internalized, interpersonal, and structural. Internalized racism occurs when members of racialized groups accept negative messages about their abilities and intrinsic worth. Interpersonal racism manifests as prejudice and discrimination through differential actions toward racialized groups. Institutional or structural racism is differential access to the goods, services, and opportunities of society by race which can manifest as inaction in the face of need.

Crisis, Emergency, Issue

A public health issue is one that affects a significant portion of a specific population. According to the WHO, an emergency describes “a state that demands to be declared or imposed by somebody in authority, who, at a certain moment, will also lift it.” It is usually defined in time and space and requires threshold values to be recognized; it also implies rules of engagement, an exit strategy, and mobilization of resources/budget (5). In contrast, a crisis implies the possibility of an insidious process that cannot be defined in time, and that can exhibit different layers/levels of intensity. A crisis “may not be evident, and it demands analysis to be recognized” (5). Conceptually, “crisis” can cover both preparedness and response. Therefore, the term crisis is the most appropriate term to use when it comes to addressing and defining the state of structural racism and its impacts on health. The threshold values and limits of the term “emergency” are insufficient and the term “issue” too vague.

White Supremacy Culture

While “white supremacy” often conjures images of individual or group acts of overt and racially motivated acts of violence, “white supremacy culture” address normalized and pervasive daily and subtle manifestations that support the maintenance of a white supremacist system. White supremacy is a system in which those who benefit from whiteness maintain power and privilege through the oppression and exploitation of those who are not included in the definition of whiteness, with Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC). Culture is the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. Cultural racism is how the dominant culture is founded upon and then shapes the society's norms, values, beliefs, and standards to validate and advantage white people while oppressing BIPOC (6). White supremacy culture maintains that the cultural behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols of white people is superior to that of people of color. As identified in Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, this includes perfectionism, worship of the written word, sense of urgency, defensiveness, quantity over quality, only one right way, paternalism, either/or thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, progress is bigger/more, objectivity, and right to comfort (6).