in past week or so, the covid-19 vaccine was released. there has been a lot of attention paid to how the vaccine will be rolled out, who should get vaccinated first, and the timeline for the process. there hasn’t been much attention paid to Black folks who are extremely skeptical of the vaccine due to historical and current breaches of trust at the hands of medical professionals and institutions. when attention is paid, it’s to gaslight and undermine our incredibly valid experiences.
.
what does it mean that the population most impacted by covid is also extremely suspicious of the vaccine? for the majority of folks, this reluctance isn’t due to conspiracy theories. it’s due to our everyday experiences navigating anti-Blackness within healthcare.
.
this booklist explores the history of medical racism within the United States and the implications of centuries of violence within healthcare.

.

book list:

black fatigue: how racism erodes the mind, body and spirit by mary-frances winters

a terrible thing to waste: environmental racism and its assault on the american mind by harriet a washington

killing the black body: race, reproduction and the meaning of liberty by dorothy roberts

medicalizing blackness: making racial difference in the atlantic world by rana a hogarth

fatal invention: how science, politics, and big business re-create race in the twenty-first century by dorothy roberts

medical bondage: race, gender and the origins of american gynocology by deirdre cooper owens

just medicine: a cure for racial inequality in american healthcare by dayna bowen matthew

body and soul: the black panther party and the fight against medical discrimination by alondra nelson

reproducing race: an ethnography of pregnancy as a site of racialization by khiara m bridges

if you are interested in purchasing a book, click on an image and you will be taken to a Black-owned bookstore where you can purchase the book directly!

if you are Black and interested in receiving a book of your choosing, free of cost, feel free to sign-up here!