June 30, 2023
From the Director
These reflections have been difficult to write.
Like so many of you, I am deeply troubled by the efficiency with which racial capitalism and white supremacy are reconfiguring society. I am deeply saddened by the ease with which people dismiss the humanity of those perceived as other. What troubles me most, however, is that in rushing to act quickly, health justice advocates may find ourselves drifting into this new phase of the battle with little understanding of the terrain on which it is being fought. (1)
The early 21st century is clearly a pivotal moment in the US. (2,3) In my assessment, it marks a new era of racial capitalism—one that critical race theorists and others have yet to fully understand. (4) In order to be able to continue to serve in a leading role in this new era, the center will take an intentional hiatus from our externally facing activities to focus intensively on distilling lessons from the past five years and charting a bold new course to confront the emerging national and global contexts of racialization on their terms. This is the last newsletter you will receive from us in this configuration of the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health.
With seed funding from the Fielding School of Public Health and the support of many colleagues, I was thrilled to launch the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health on the inaugural Indigenous People’s Day in 2017. My goal was for it to serve as a leader in advancing a bold movement for racial justice within the field of public health and beyond it. I feel humbled that the Center has been far more influential than I had planned for at the time. In recent years, many new centers have popped up in schools and programs of public health in response to racism intersecting the COVID pandemic. Some of them are thoughtfully designed, others are merely opportunistically pursuing the resources now available to conduct work on the health implications of racism. The hiatus this Center is about to embark on will help to ensure it cannot be conflated with the latter.
The work of the Center would not have been possible without the support of so many people. It is impossible to name all of you. Still, I thank you. It has been a privilege to struggle together toward a shared vision of beloved community.
The fierce team of Rebekah Israel Cross, Natalie Bradford, Ale Cabral and Porchia Toussaint launched this center. Each of you is precious to me. Thank you for your willingness to join me on what may have seemed like a wild journey at the time. That first year was magical. James Huynh and Millicent Robinson each served briefly as staff around the tumultuous beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Terence Keel, Kia Skrine Jeffers and Bita Amani graciously served as faculty leaders. As Associate Director for the Arts, Kia reminded us that the work cannot be reduced to empirical knowledge production. She hosted public-facing programs that centered the well-being of black women and communities, and reached broad audiences, including nurse scientists and community-based researchers. Bita has served as the lead co-chair of the COVID-19 Task Force on Racism & Equity. She has been my partner in fundraising, policy- and community-facing outreach, research, translation and dissemination of findings for use by community partners. Mienah Sharif and Paris “AJ” Adkins-Jackson completed postdoctoral fellowships and then went on to begin tenure track appointments where they are launching careers that challenge the field of public health from within. Mienah has continued to collaborate with the center and play a role in shaping the development of an anti-racism center at her new academic home. No one has sustained a core role longer than Consuela Abotsi-Kowu. She has been a student volunteer, center coordinator, data specialist on the COVID-19 Task Force on Racism & Equity, as well as the project assistant and project manager for the multi-million dollar intervention, Project REFOCUS. Consuela, you are an exemplary colleague from whom I have learned a lot. Thank you for continuing on this adventure with me. To the members of the Center’s Executive Board: Robin D.G. Kelley, Margaret Prescod, Barbara Krimgold, Collins Airhihenbuwa, Keith Norris, Gil Gee and Camara Jones, thank you for helping me to navigate the kinds of challenges that emerge when trying to carry out this work with integrity. Faculty, student, staff and community affiliates of the center whether based at UCLA or elsewhere, you are sources of inspiration and models of courage. Continue to forge ahead knowing others are working in solidarity with you. We are fortunate to have the generosity of many donors and advocates, including Vic Schoenbach and Phyllis Chestang, who generously shared financial support, recent publications and other materials with the center on a recurring basis. Your contributions that all of you have made are incredibly valuable, not only because of the resources they provide (for instance, to be able to hire students and staff), but also because you are letting us know that you value the work we are doing. My sincerest gratitude to you. Janet E. Dandridge donated a provocative work of installation art, one large component of which still hangs on the Center wall. Many, many volunteers, including but certainly not limited to Taylor Rogers, Ezinne Nwankwo, Anna Hing, Erin Manalo-Pedro, Adrian Bacong, and Anna-Michelle McSorley, who is continuing the Anti-Colonialism Collective from her new home at New York University, hosted events or participated in activities that sustained our relationships with community partners. The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s dean’s office shared our work with donors and the stellar team in the Office of Marketing and Communications championed our activities and affiliates in various publications. If you participated in any of our many activities, you also benefited from conversations we regularly had with our closest community partners. Particularly warm thanks go to Felica Jones and Healthy African American Families, the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders, Black Alliance for Just Immigration and Stop LAPD Spying Coalition. Over the last two years, I have relied heavily on my center coordinator extraordinaire, E. Minelle David, whose ideas are valuable to me and whose thoughtfulness and love come through in how she curates our weekly newsletter, interacts with others, and addresses the many requests that come across her desk. Minelle, it is a blessing to work with you.
Folks (i.e., everyone who has supported us whether named or not), together we built a home and a community; that will continue. Together, we established the feasibility of using Critical Race Theory/Public Health Critical Race Practice (PHCRP) (5) to conduct anti-racist, community-engaged health equity work. That will continue. I am incredibly proud of the foundation we built. Yes. It was difficult to build it. I am extraordinarily grateful for your commitment to the work; I know that you were still fighting the good fight even when doing so came at great personal or professional cost. Please be encouraged as we move into this next phase knowing that your efforts have provided the institution (UCLA and the Fielding School of Public Health), our communities and the field with much more on which to draw as they forge ahead for health justice.
Thank you everyone for the privilege and the responsibility of this work. I look forward to reconnecting when we get to the other side.
With love and for health justice,
Chandra
1. Bowleg L. "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House": Ten Critical Lessons for Black and Other Health Equity Researchers of Color. Health Educ Behav. 2021;48(3):237-249.
2. Jung M-K, Costa Vargas JH, Bonilla-Silva E, eds. State of White Supremacy: Racism, Governance, and the United States. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press; 2011.
3. Bonilla-Silva E, Glover KS. "We are all Americans": The Latin Americanization of race relations in the United States. In: Krysan M, Lewis AE, eds. The changing terrain of race and ethnicity. New York: Russell Sage Foundation; 2004:149-183.
4. Krieger N. Got Theory? On the 21st c. CE Rise of Explicit use of Epidemiologic Theories of Disease Distribution: A Review and Ecosocial Analysis. Current Epidemiology Reports. 2014;1:45-56.
5. Ford CL, Airhihenbuwa CO. Commentary: Just What is Critical Race Theory and What's it Doing in a Progressive Field like Public Health? - PMC (nih.gov) Ethn Dis. 2018;28(Suppl 1):223-230.
