a cce s s H ea l t h N ews . n e t
M a rc h 2 0 2 6
Volume 11 | Issue No. 104
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Today, health providers may alienate Black patients by
refusing to consistently bring this historical context into
their practices, according to Dr. Randolph. "If your mental
health center didn't say anything about Trayvon Martin,
Mike Brown, police brutality, or the deaths of people in
police custody, but suddenly decided last summer that
Black lives do ma er, and now are saying 'trust us, get the
vaccine, you're ignorant if you don't – we don't have to go
back to Tuskegee," she said.
"If Black lives did not ma er until last year, you can trust
that your staff and patients remember that." Dr. Randolph
said openly recognizing and acknowledging patients' real-
world stressors, such as police brutality and racism, as well
as their strengths and ambitions, builds trust. "This is 400
years of disparate health outcomes and it's not going to be
fixed immediately, but having these acknowledgments is a
good first step."
