Stand Against Racism is an annual campaign of YWCA USA to raise awareness and advocate for racial justice in communities across the United States. This year’s campaign is occurring as our nation continues to face the intersecting public health crises of COVID-19 and racial injustice. The myriad racial justice issues that impact the health and safety of communities of color are widespread and include discriminatory governing policies, hate crimes, policing practices, and access to healthcare.
Structural racism plays a large role in determining the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and affects people’s access to quality housing, education, food, transportation, political power, and other social determinants of health. Understanding and addressing systemic racism from this public health perspective is crucial to eliminating racial and ethnic inequities, and to improving opportunity and well-being across communities.
During the 2021 Stand Against Racism campaign from April 22-25 and beyond, join us as we educate ourselves and others to raise awareness about racism and its impact on public health. We must take action to ensure people of color have equal access to safe and affordable housing, quality education, economic advancement opportunities, public safety, reliable transportation, healthy foods, and environments free of contamination, among other essential resources.
By investing in marginalized communities, empowering people of color, and expanding public resources, we can challenge centuries of unfair social, economic, and political systems which contribute to inequity. Each of us can stand against racism by advocating for and supporting our communities in a meaningful way.
Racism and Public Health Statistics
Structural and institutional racism continues to significantly impact communities of color economically, socially, and through health inequities, as highlighted below:
- While 9% of white people are living in poverty, 17% of Latinx people, 21% of Black people, and 24% of American Indian/Alaska Native people live below the poverty line. On average, white households have nearly 7x the wealth of Black families and 6x the wealth of Latinx families.
- Homeownership is the main source of wealth for many families, but Black and Latinx families are more likely to be turned down for mortgages and have historically low homeownership rates. The black-white homeownership gap is larger today than in 1960, when housing discrimination was blatantly legal.
- 21.5% of Black, 26.8% of Latinx, and 28% of American Indian/Alaska Native individuals reported having fair or poor health compared with 16.4% of white individuals.
- Black women are more than 3x more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women—in some cities, they have maternal death rates up to 12x higher than white women—and American Indian and Alaska Native women are 2.3x as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes.
- Black and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander infants are more than twice as likely to die than white infants, while American Indian/Alaska Native infants are nearly twice as likely to die as white infants.
- Due to the confluence of structural racism and factors such as gender, class, and sexual orientation or gender identity, commonly referred to as intersectionality, Black and Latinx transgender women are more likely to die due to violence and homicide than their white counterparts.
- People of color are overrepresented in many vulnerable groups, such as low-wage workers, the uninsured, those without sick leave, the incarcerated, and the homeless. Moreover, individuals working in industries that involve high degrees of interaction with others—such as caregivers, health care professionals, and food, beverage, retail, and travel industry workers—are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19.
- As of November 2020, cases of COVID-19 were greater among American Indian/Alaska Native (1.8x), Black (1.4x), and Latinx (1.7x) communities. Even more startling, however, is the fact that COVID-19 is killing Black people at 2.8x the rate of white people, American Indian/Alaska Native people at 1.8x the rate of white people, and Latinx individuals at 1.7x the rate of white people.
- Across the country, Black Americans are on average 3.23 times as likely to be killed by police as white men, and 1 in every 1,000 Black men will die as a result of police violence. Black women also face higher rates of violence at the hands of police – they are at least 1.4x as likely as white women to be killed by police.
Get Involved
Take action April 22-25 by attending virtual events, sharing information with your community, and joining the conversation online:
- Attend a virtual event near you or plan your own virtual event. Check out YWCA USA’s interactive map to see what’s happening in your community.
- Join YWCA USA for a Virtual Town Hall on Thursday, April 22 at 3:00 pm ET as they discuss addressing racism as a public health crisis with a group of public health professionals, advocates, and trailblazers: act.standagainstracism.org
- Tell your members of Congress to finally declare racism a public health crisis. Find their contact information here: govtrack.us/congress/members
- Take the pledge to stand against racism beyond the campaign here.
Social Media
Tell your friends, family and followers on social media why you are taking a Stand Against Racism and how they can become involved too. Use the hashtags #StandAgainstRacism, #UntilJusticeJustIs #RacialEquity, #EliminateRacism, and/or #RacismIsAPublicHealthCrisis and tag us on facebook.com/ywcasd or twitter.com/ywcasandiego. See below for sample posts and images to get you started:
- Working to eliminate racism is crucial to the health of our communities. I believe each of us must keep doing our part until we achieve #RacialEquity. I’m proud to join @ywcasd‘s #StandAgainstRacism campaign. Do your part >>> bit.ly/SAR21YW #UntilJusticeJustIs #EliminateRacism
- Everyone deserves justice and equity. That’s why I’m joining @ywcasd‘s #StandAgainstRacism campaign to eliminate racism. Learn more >>> bit.ly/SAR21YW #EliminateRacism
- To me, a world without structural and institutional racism looks like [insert answer here]. I stand with the @ywcasd and their mission to eliminate racism. bit.ly/SAR21YW #StandAgainstRacism
- I am proud to join @ywcasd and others across the country for #StandAgainstRacism. Our collective efforts can root out injustice, transform institutions, and create a world that sees women, girls and people of color the way we see them: Equal. Powerful. Unstoppable. Join us >>> bit.ly/SAR21YW #UntilJusticeJustIs
- Structural racism exists in every community across the country. Everyone must #StandAgainstRacism. #UntilJusticeJustIs Join us >>> bit.ly/SAR21YW #EliminateRacism
Click on the social media graphics below. Then, right click on the image and select “download image to computer.”
Show Your Support: Fillable Signs
Help us spread the word about Stand Against Racism and show why you’re committed to ending violence by taking a photo/selfie with a customizable sign. Download and print one of the following fillable signs:
- A world with racial equity looks like…
- Eliminating racism is important because…
- I stand against racism because…
