Only 76% of the African American students
graduated from high school in the 2015-2016
school year. (McCarthy, C. 2020).
10% of Black children in the ages 10-11 already
reported being discriminated against because of
race. (Angelis, T. 2021).
6.4% of Black children already said they don’t
feel accepted in American society. (Angelis, T.
2021).
In 2021, a police officer shot and killed a 16-year-
old teenager while handling a call related to a
stabbing attempt in the state of Ohio, United
States. (BBC. 2021).
According to Berry et al. (2021), “children
exposed to persistent indirect racial
discrimination reported approximately two
times increased odds of poor mental health”
(p. 23)
Discrimination based on race stands as a
fundamental societal factor influencing
health and serves as a catalyst for health
disparities. (Iruka et al., 2022)
The social context where the individual is
educated can affect and influence their
development in childhood. (Trent et al.,
2019)
According to Trent et al. (2019), the
differences in the access to education and
the achievement of learning goals as well as
racist elements in education have an impact
on the educational success of children and
young people and ultimately on their health.
References : Angelis, T. (2021). Non-White youth still face high levels of
discrimination: black
youth experience the highest incidence of racial and ethnic discrimination in the
united states, followed closely by native american youth. American Psychological
Association. Vol. 52 No. 6. Page 88.
BBC. (2021). Police Officer Kills Young Black Woman in US on Day of Sentencing for
George Floyd's Murder. BBC News Brazil.
Berry, O. O., Londoño Tobón, A., & Njoroge, W. F. (2021). Social determinants of
health: the
impact of racism on early childhood mental health. Current Psychiatry Reports, 23,
1-10.
Heard-Garris, N., Boyd, R., Kan, K., Perez-Cardona, L., Heard, N. J., & Johnson, T. J.
(2021). Structuring poverty: how racism shapes child poverty and child and
adolescent health. Academic pediatrics, 21(8), S108-S116.
Iruka, I. U., Gardner-Neblett, N., Telfer, N. A., Ibekwe-Okafor, N., Curenton, S. M.,
Sims, J.,
& Neblett, E. W. (2022). Effects of racism on child development: Advancing
antiracist developmental science. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 4,
109-132.
McCarthy, C. (2020). How racism harms children. Harvard Health Publishing.
Trent, M., Dooley, D. G., Dougé, J., Cavanaugh, R. M., Lacroix, A. E., Fanburg, J., &
Wallace, S. B. (2019). The impact of racism on child and adolescent health.
Pediatrics, 144(2).
