Washington-SANA
The effects of racial discrimination in the United States do not depend on social problems and the spread of hate crimes, but on health outcomes that directly affect African Americans and Hispanics through fatal diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's.
The study, published in Newsweek, showed that negative social attitudes such as racism and discrimination are detrimental to the health of victims by triggering a series of abnormal biological responses, including abnormal genetic activity, causing premature aging, organ damage and consequently shortening of life.
According to the study, Americans of different origins, especially African, die early and suffer many serious diseases before their death, including heart disease, Alzheimer's disease and late stages of breast cancer.The reason for this is inequality and racism, in addition to other environmental social factors including poverty and lack of health care.
"The reports documenting age and cause of death show a clear pattern: short-lived African Americans with many diseases at a much higher rate than whites," said Abril Themes, professor of psychology and psychology at the University of Southern California, who led the study. Genes that cause inflammation are a major cause of disease.
Government policies in the United States, unfair treatment by social institutions, stereotypes and discrimination are compelling evidence that racism is still alive and is a cause of premature mortality as well as a poor quality of life, she said.
Themis also showed that perpetuating racism by asking people to write down their sex before any test or examination that disrupts brain functions such as learning and memory in African-Americans may explain in part the high rates of dementia compared to their white citizens.
When environmental pressures such as poverty and racism activate the sympathetic nervous system that controls defense or escape responses, the behavior of genes is altered, which leads to complex biochemical events that trigger genes, which can lead to poor health outcomes, she said.
In recent years, American society has witnessed unprecedented waves of hate crimes and racial discrimination, leading to a high incidence of shootings and crimes and attacks on minorities.
Observers assert that racial discrimination has increased dangerously under the apparent racist approach taken by US President Donald Trump as the main course of his policies since he arrived at the White House, as his inflammatory statements and his tendency towards the so-called "racial superiority of whites" have also reinforced the seeds of racial discrimination inherent in the United States. And helped spread it.
Follow the latest news through the Telegram application on smartphones via the link:
https://telegram.me/SyrianArabNewsAgency
Follow our VK social media page at:
http://vk.com/syrianarabnewsagency
