Preface

Discrimination of vulnerable groups by communities, organizations and governments has been a common practice for centuries. Yet, identifying, understanding, and eliminating the discrimination embedded in policies, practices, and structures of public systems are gaining global attention. In this book, a group of international researchers define structural racism and propose ways in which its deleterious effect on vulnerable populations (women, racial, ethnic and gender minorities) can be abated. As structural racism is represented by policies, structures, and practices that disempower culturally diverse groups, authors highlight how the effect of structural racism is observed in different systems across the world, and how evidence-based strategies may dismantle those structures and promote equity and fairness.

This volume provides unique, comprehensive, and science-based approaches to eliminate structural racism in different public systems. Nine chapters describe the identification, understanding, and elimination of the macro, mezzo, and micro factors contributing to racism and discrimination. Chapters focus on the healthcare, political, and education systems that reproduce discrimination and disempower vulnerable groups in particular nations. For instance, in the healthcare system in the United States, authors provide a description of the theoretical underpinnings of the link between structural racism and HIV and propose a culturally appropriate, trauma-informed agenda to reduce HIV vulnerability for racial/ethnic and sexual/gender minorities. Two other chapters in healthcare examine how structural racism affects minority older adults in long-term care facilities, and how the role of cultural competence may abate structural racism in Latino substance use and access to care. Overall, authors offer a series of policies and responsive organizational practices that may dissolve the structural factors that promote racism in healthcare.

Culture researchers also highlight how Black people tend to cope with racism through social support, religion, avoidance, and problem-focused coping, with some gender differences in coping approaches. Politically, researchers present work on the notion of belonging as a "feeling of mattering" in contemporary politics. Authors propose "belonging" as a strategy to eliminate structural racism in mental health, whereas economists research how structural racism affects indigenous and afro-descendant women's political and economic participation in Mexico fueling inequality. In the United Kingdom, authors examine the Black Lives Matter and anti-woke campaign and discuss the role of structural racism in enabling or detracting political participation.

The volume concludes with two chapters on education systems in two countries. Authors highlight the forces of structural racism that promote inequalities in access, support, and wellbeing of minority students in higher education in Canada. In the United Kingdom, researchers identify the social determinants and factors contributing to structural racism in the higher education system that limit opportunities for ethnic minority students.

Overall, nine chapters offer a comprehensive view of science-based approaches to identify, understand, and effectively eliminate structural racism within healthcare, political, and education systems originally designed to empower people regardless of their background. The group of committed authors/scientists offer the public as well as scholars and policy makers a series of evidence-based practices that may ensure equity across public systems.
