Necessary Conversations: Understanding Racism as a Barrier to Achieving Health Equity

Genuine discussions about racial inequities are necessary, difficult, and urgent. Many forces work to keep people from discussing racism. Conversations and narratives often generate unproductive fear, shame, guilt, avoidance, and denial in the absence of honest reflections on race and the history of this country. We must move beyond that to a place of healing and action. Dr. Alonzo Plough, RWJF’s chief science officer, explains how in his book.