How institutionalized racism shapes health in the 21st century: Anne Pollock with Ruha Benjamin

SICKENING is a book that examines the unconscionable disparity in health outcomes between Black and white Americans. Author Anne Pollock of King’s College London takes readers through anti-Black racism operating in healthcare: from the spike in chronic disease after Hurricane Katrina to the lack of protection for Black residents during the Flint water crisis—and even the life-threatening childbirth experience for tennis star Serena Williams. Ruha Benjamin of Princeton University joins Pollock in conversation. 

Pollock is professor of global health and social medicine at King’s College London. She is author of ‘Sickening: Anti-Black Racism and Health Disparities in the United States’; ‘Medicating Race: Heart Disease and Durable Preoccupations with Difference’; and ‘Synthesizing Hope: Matter, Knowledge, and Place in South African Drug Discovery.’

Ruha Benjamin is professor of African American studies at Princeton University, founding director of the IDA B. WELLS Just Data Lab, author of two books: ‘People Science’ and ‘Race After Technology,’ and editor of ‘Captivating Technology.’

"A crucial guided analysis of anti-Blackness and its impact on Black people’s ability to live as fully entitled citizens, Pollock’s scholarship is essential medicine for a society in denial about its sickness." —Foreword