BlackLivesMatter in Healthcare: Racism and Implications for Health Inequity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia

Abstract

Despite decades of evidence showing that institutional racism serve as significant barriers to accessible healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, attempts to address this systemic problem still fall short. The social determinants of health are particularly poignant given the socio-political-economic history of invasion, colonisation, and subsequent entrenchment of racialised practices in the Australian healthcare landscape. Embedded within Euro-centric, bio-medical discourses, Western dominated healthcare processes can erase significant cultural and historical contexts and unwittingly reproduce unsafe practices. Put simply, if Black lives matter in healthcare, why do Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples die younger and experience ‘epidemic’ levels of chronic diseases as compared to white Australians? To answer this, we utilise critical race perspectives to theorise this gap and to de-center whiteness as the normalised position of ‘doing’ healthcare. We draw on our diverse knowledges through a decolonised approach to promote a theoretical discussion that we contend can inform alternative ways of knowing, being, and doing in healthcare practice in Australia.

Exploring the relevance of intersectionality in Australian dietetics: Issues of diversity and representation

“…However, Australian dietetics is not immune to the structures and systems of power and oppression (Lassemillante & Delbridge, 2021; Ng & Wai, 2021). Australian dietitians function within the landscape of the Australian health care system and education system, which are recognised to perpetuate significant oppression such as racism for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Bodkin‐Andrews & Carlson, 2016; Gatwiri et al., 2021; Paradies, 2016), and culturally and linguistically diverse peoples including migrants and refugees (Bastos et al., 2018; Mohamed Shaburdin et al., 2020). Socioeconomic factors are barriers to access to higher education for many people (Rubin et al., 2014), particularly regional students (Edmunds & Harris, 2015), and mature‐age students (Tones et al., 2009).…”

Interrogating the intentions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health: a narrative review of research outputs since the introduction of Closing the Gap

“…However, in Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been calling out systemic racism since colonisation, which can be traced through all Royal Commissions into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. At present, the impact of racism on the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people cannot continue to be silenced 37 and must be addressed in all research aiming to improve health.…”

“…36 However, in Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been calling out systemic racism since colonisation, which can be traced through all Royal Commissions into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. At present, the impact of racism on the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people cannot continue to be silenced37 and must be addressed in all research aiming to improve health.With new investments in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health being implemented and the updated NHMRC Road Map 3 highlighting the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers, community leadership and research priority including social and cultural determinants of health,30 we anticipate future outputs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research to change significantly from this review. As published in 2020, "What is required is a broadening of our intellectual investment in Indigenous health: one that invites social scientific perspectives about the social world that Indigenous people occupy and its role in the production of illness and inequalities" 28.…”

#ThisIsMeChallenge and Music for Empowerment of Marginalized Groups on TikTok

“…Many of the racism-related posts referenced accusations of theft and unjustified hatred towards physical aspects such as skin color. In fact, there were examples involving the #BlackLivesMatter message-which is a decentralized international movement to ensure justice and equality for black people since the death of the African American Trayvon Martin (Gatwiri et al, 2021).…”