"Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion"
– bell hooks
Today, we take time to grieve the historical and ongoing effects of racism on our physical, mental, and emotional health. We acknowledge the harm of toxic racism in medicine, naming it for what it is. We deepen our understanding of how to recognize racism, even in its subtler forms, and we empower ourselves to speak out against what we see and experience.
Last month, Dr. Janell Green-Smith died shortly after giving birth to her first child. She was a certified nurse-midwife (CNM) and doctor of nursing practice (DNP) who had dedicated her career to ensuring safe births for others. She served families in South Carolina and fought relentlessly to end racism in maternal healthcare. Her tragic death proves what we already knew: no Black woman is safe in this system.
Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women—a disparity that persists across income and education levels. Black women with college degrees face higher maternal mortality rates than white women without high school diplomas. These disparities are not caused by race-related health conditions but by racism itself. For example, Black mothers are more likely to have their pain dismissed, their concerns ignored, and their symptoms overlooked by medical professionals. The maternal health crisis reflects broader inequities in healthcare access, quality of care, and the cumulative impact of racism on Black women's bodies.Addressing this crisis requires systemic change: dismantling racist practices in medicine, increasing the number of Black healthcare providers, expanding access to doulas and midwives, and centering Black women's voices and experiences in their own care.
Unfortunately, programs built over decades to address structural racism in medicine and even the research needed to understand how it operates have had their funding cut or threatened. After cancelling billions of dollars in grants earlier in 2025, it was reported last December that the “Trump administration is pausing new funding for National Institute of Health grants that include terms like ‘health equity’ and ‘structural racism.’” The government has declared that these terms do not reflect “scientific rigor” while simultaneously uplifting dangerous long-debunked claims based in scientific racism and eugenics.
Health equity leaders like Dr. Uché Blackstock, author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine, are continuing the important work of helping us to consider the cost:“The US is the wealthiest country in the world, yet we have the worst health outcomes out of any high-income country, and in part that’s because our persistent racial health inequities are so profound.” As we honor the memory of Dr. Janell Green-Smith, we also stand fast in refusing to look away from the costs of racial inequity in medicine and healthcare.
TODAY’S PRACTICE
Reflect in your journal: What toll has racism taken on your mental and physical health? What costs to our health as individuals and as a people have never been adequately acknowledged or counted?
Light a candle to give yourself a few moments to mourn the cost of racism on our health.
LEARN MORE
Watch Listen to Me (trailer)
Read Black Mothers Are Sharing Difficult Stories in Hopes of Saving Lives and Improving Maternal Health Care. Are You Listening?
CALLS TO ACTION
ADD the 2026 Google Liberation Calendar to your own calendar.
JOIN our WhatsApp community to engage w/ fellow participants!
DOWNLOAD the Liberation Table Guide.