Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation

Journalist Villarosa (Body & Soul) takes a stunning look at the racial disparities in health outcomes for Black and white Americans. Contending that these health disparities, which persist across different levels of income and education, demonstrate “the impact of insidious discrimination associated with the lived experience of being Black in America,” Villarosa cites evidence that white physicians prescribe lower levels of pain medication to Black patients, that infant and maternal mortality rates are higher among African Americans, that Black communities bear greater costs of environmental pollution and climate change than white communities, and that “toxic stress” associated with racism prematurely age Black Americans’ immune systems. According to Villarosa, these ill effects are not only caused by encounters with racist individuals, but also by a social structure that deprioritizes African Americans’ needs and ability to access resources that more privileged people take for granted. Skillfully interweaving historical and medical facts with empathetic profiles of people who have been affected by HIV/AIDS, Covid-19, and other health crises enabled by structural racism, Villarosa delivers a passionate call for equality in the American medical system. The result is an urgent and utterly convincing must-read. (June)