Racism in Healthcare: Impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
Added on 2022-12-12
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RACISM IN HEALTHCARE
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RACISM IN HEALTHCARE
Racism has been used and practised for centuries whereby one race is thought to be
superior and a conqueror in relation to another race. Currently, the word racism is used to
describe prejudgment, hostility and bigotry against an individual from another race with the
belief that their race is inferior compared to your race. Racist individuals practice and believe in
racism, and this can be reflected in different dimensions, such as making of racist policies in
health. Indigenous Australians who comprise of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are
the original people of Australia having lived hundreds of years before the arrival of other races.
World Health Organization describes health in a holistic manner as a state where there is
completeness in wellbeing mentally, socially and physically. Health does not mean the absence
of infirmity or disease and health is a human right that needs to respected and upheld.Racism in
healthcare has been attributed to multiple negative health outcomes.especially among the
minorities.As a consequence of racism,the minorities have had their rights vilated through their
inclusion in unethical medical research such as the Guantemala and Tuskegee studies carried out
in the United states of America in the 1930’s (Nittle, 2017).Additionally, they have also been
denied quality healthcare because of their color. This essay will discuss how racism has affected
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in terms of health.
Racism exists at several different levels, and the practice of racism in these levels differs
depending on the racists' understanding of what their race means compared to another race. The
different types of racism include institutional bigotry, systemic racism, scientific racism,
Christianity racism, inter-racial racism, intra-racial racism, internalised racism, casual racism and
street-level racism. Scientific racism is referred to as pseudoscientific because it is not founded
Racism has been used and practised for centuries whereby one race is thought to be
superior and a conqueror in relation to another race. Currently, the word racism is used to
describe prejudgment, hostility and bigotry against an individual from another race with the
belief that their race is inferior compared to your race. Racist individuals practice and believe in
racism, and this can be reflected in different dimensions, such as making of racist policies in
health. Indigenous Australians who comprise of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are
the original people of Australia having lived hundreds of years before the arrival of other races.
World Health Organization describes health in a holistic manner as a state where there is
completeness in wellbeing mentally, socially and physically. Health does not mean the absence
of infirmity or disease and health is a human right that needs to respected and upheld.Racism in
healthcare has been attributed to multiple negative health outcomes.especially among the
minorities.As a consequence of racism,the minorities have had their rights vilated through their
inclusion in unethical medical research such as the Guantemala and Tuskegee studies carried out
in the United states of America in the 1930’s (Nittle, 2017).Additionally, they have also been
denied quality healthcare because of their color. This essay will discuss how racism has affected
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in terms of health.
Racism exists at several different levels, and the practice of racism in these levels differs
depending on the racists' understanding of what their race means compared to another race. The
different types of racism include institutional bigotry, systemic racism, scientific racism,
Christianity racism, inter-racial racism, intra-racial racism, internalised racism, casual racism and
street-level racism. Scientific racism is referred to as pseudoscientific because it is not founded
on any scientific basis but contains biases towards racial superiority (Thomas, Bainbridge &
Tsey, 2014). This aspect of racism uses anthropology to classify human beings to either
belonging to a superior or inferior race. After the race question was raised in 1950, the theory of
scientific racism was equivocally denounced and regarded to only be a social myth. Survival for
the fittest was a hypothesis supported by these theory and many individuals suffered because of
it. The hypothesis stipulated that the superior races had the highest chances of survival and
therefore, the weak races had to be eliminated. Phrenology is another aspect of scientific racism
that supported that the size of the skull predicted the mental abilities of an individual. Aboriginal
people were conceived to be inferior, and according to the scientific theory, they had to be
eliminated for the fittest races to thrive. These are brought out when Aboriginal children were
separated from their families to avoid the continuation of an inferior race (Thomas, Bainbridge &
Tsey, 2014).
Christianity racism or Christian Identity is a form of racism that believes whites are the
original descendants of Isaac, Abraham and Jacob. This white supremacist ideology proposes
that non-whites should serve the whites because they are chosen to rule and conquer the world.
Indigenous people of Australia suffered under this type of racism when approximately one
hundred thousand Aboriginal children were taken away from their families by church missions
and the Australian government (Sadler & Gupta, 2019). The participation of church missions in
this act shows clearly that the church supported racism between 1910 and 1970. Institutional
racism also referred to as systemic racism, is defined by the practice of racism by political and
social institutions. This type of racism is mirrored by differences in healthcare, employment,
wealth and education among different races under the same government. Aboriginal people have
suffered all these racial discriminations for a long time as reflected by the social justice report
Tsey, 2014). This aspect of racism uses anthropology to classify human beings to either
belonging to a superior or inferior race. After the race question was raised in 1950, the theory of
scientific racism was equivocally denounced and regarded to only be a social myth. Survival for
the fittest was a hypothesis supported by these theory and many individuals suffered because of
it. The hypothesis stipulated that the superior races had the highest chances of survival and
therefore, the weak races had to be eliminated. Phrenology is another aspect of scientific racism
that supported that the size of the skull predicted the mental abilities of an individual. Aboriginal
people were conceived to be inferior, and according to the scientific theory, they had to be
eliminated for the fittest races to thrive. These are brought out when Aboriginal children were
separated from their families to avoid the continuation of an inferior race (Thomas, Bainbridge &
Tsey, 2014).
Christianity racism or Christian Identity is a form of racism that believes whites are the
original descendants of Isaac, Abraham and Jacob. This white supremacist ideology proposes
that non-whites should serve the whites because they are chosen to rule and conquer the world.
Indigenous people of Australia suffered under this type of racism when approximately one
hundred thousand Aboriginal children were taken away from their families by church missions
and the Australian government (Sadler & Gupta, 2019). The participation of church missions in
this act shows clearly that the church supported racism between 1910 and 1970. Institutional
racism also referred to as systemic racism, is defined by the practice of racism by political and
social institutions. This type of racism is mirrored by differences in healthcare, employment,
wealth and education among different races under the same government. Aboriginal people have
suffered all these racial discriminations for a long time as reflected by the social justice report
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