‘I Can’t Breathe’: Racial Injustice as a Determinant of Health Disparities
Jan 15, 2015, 12:00 PM, Posted by Amani M. Nuru-Jeter
Amani M. Nuru-Jeter, PhD, is an associate professor of community health and human development, and epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, and an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health & Society Scholars program. Her research focuses on racial health disparities.
Eric Garner’s death and the failure to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo have had a profound effect on communities throughout the United States. But it’s not just Eric Garner. This, and similar cases including Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and Oscar Grant, have put race relations front and center in the national debate.
I’m tired of it, this stops today...every time you see me you want to harass me, you want to stop me...please just leave me alone” –Eric Garner
These last words from Eric Garner are not that different from what we hear in our work with African American women in the San Francisco Bay area: