“How is racism operating here so we can get a handle on it to identify points of leverage?”
Race is a social classification, she said. Racism disadvantaged individuals and communities and advantaged other individuals and communities.
“That’s white privilege. We need more media stories and conversations around our dinner tables about how racism saps the strength of a society through the waste of resources.”
Children were born with high esteem but that changed when society communicated to a child he or she was not as good as another. Communications from people such as teachers and physicians could be subtle, said Dr Jones.
“A physician might not give a patient the full range of prescription options based on the assumption they won’t be able to afford it.”
A treaty written in English and in te reo Maori caused duality in New Zealand.
“Translations of the te reo and English texts don’t say the same thing. What’s missing here is the English translation of the Maori text. By recognising and honouring the treaty, Maori are in a better way than North American Indians.”
“Racism is fundamental in our nation’s history and continues to impact when many people are in denial.”
A restaurant experience illustrated her revelation about “dual reality”.
While dining out with fellow medical students she noticed a sign that read “open”.
“Because I know nothing about the two-sided nature of that sign, the restaurant was closed,” she said of someone who might see the sign from outside.
“Other people on the other side of the sign would not be able to come in and eat. Those inside at the table of opportunity see the sign but don’t recognise there is a two-sided sign going on.
“That’s the nature of racism. It is our job to look for evidence of two-sided signs.”
This was as applicable to health outcomes as it was to employment opportunities, she said.
“How could people born inside the restaurant know there is a two-sided sign?
“I’m talking about a system, not an individual character flaw, failing or psychological anomaly but a system of power that structures opportunity and assigns value based on social interpretation of how one looks.”
Dr Jones also drew on the analogy of planting seeds in different types of soil, one rich in nutrients, the other inferior.
After her husband planted marigold seeds in two flower boxes, seeds sown in new potting soil flourished and even weak seeds did reasonably well.
Seeds planted in old, poor, rocky soil had fewer germinations and the strongest flowers only made it to a middling height.
The metaphor illustrated the three levels of racism — institutionalised, personally-mediated and internalised, said Dr Jones.
If a gardener who preferred red flowers over pink flowers planted red flower seeds in good soil and pink flower seeds in poor soil, generation after generation of self-seeded flowers would result in healthy red flowers and ailing pink flowers.
When the gardener surveyed the flowers years later, he or she would say “I was right to prefer red over pink.”
This part of the story illustrated aspects of institutionalised racism, the historical insult of separating the seed into two different types of soil and failure to address differences between the soils over time.
Personally-mediated racism in the gardener’s tale occurred when a bee tried to pollinate the pink flowers but the pink flowers rejected the pink pollen and preferred the red.
Saying “pink is beautiful” might help the pink flowers feel a bit better but would entail no change to the growing conditions, said Dr Jones. An alternative approach would be to address the personally-mediated racism through workshops in which the gardener would be convinced to stop removing the pink flowers before they had a chance to go to seed.
To deal with institutionalised racism, the boxes could be broken down and the soils in each mixed up, or the two boxes could remain separate but the poor soil fertilised until it was as rich as the fertile soil.
The power to decide, to act and to have control over resources was dangerous when allied with one group that was not concerned with equity, said Dr Jones.
The soil in the flowers analogy did not belong to the red flowers “but the whole garden”.
If the gardener continued to prefer red over pink flowers the status quo would continue.
“We must address white supremacist ideology,” said Dr Jones.
