#theemancipator

BY KATE AMISTOSOJULY 20, 2026

A doctor chats with a patient during an office visit. (Credit: RDNE Stock Project/Pexels)

Discrimination in housing, lack of educational access, inequitable healthcare and fewer economic opportunities have led to cumulative stressors that have had a devastating impact on Black people compared to their White counterparts, recent research has found.

In many cases, elevated stress levels caused spikes in inflammation, which ultimately negatively impacted health, according to a recent study by Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

The study builds on 2023 research from several institutions, including Morehouse School of Medicine, which found that racial disparities resulted in 1.63 million excess deaths of Black Americans from 1999 to 2020 compared to White Americans. 

The study, published earlier this year, looked at 1,554 people in the St. Louis, Missouri, area and found that Black adults experienced more cumulative stress and higher inflammation, which led to higher mortality rates than White adults. 

Significance. To conduct the Washington University study, researchers measured the presence of two proteins that are linked to inflammation and stress, and found that Black adults had higher levels of protein and died sooner. The study focused on just White and Black adults and did not include Asian, Latino, Indigenous, and other populations. 

Overlooked angle. High mortality rates among Black people have less to do with genetics than with the country’s long history of racism, which has undermined educational, housing, and job opportunities for generations of Black people, Clyde Yancy, an author of the study and chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, previously told Morehouse School of Medicine in a statement. 

“Weathering” describes the detrimental effects of systemic racism and oppression on Black, Brown, and other people of color, according to Arline T. Geronimus, a researcher and professor at Michigan University. Those who experience oppression and exploitation experience health declines with biological aging, even though their chronological age is younger. 

Continued research and initiatives are needed to address systemic racism and its impact on health, the researchers said. They recommend educational and public health initiatives to help address the racial disparities that cause higher mortality rates among Black and Brown people.  

The power structure. Last year, the Trump administration cut funding to the National Institutes of Health that supported research on health equity and structural racism. The Trump administration’s defunding of research and denying scientific expertise on health inequities has had a negative impact on Black and Brown communities. 

What experts say. In a statement, Kayla Hancock, the director of the project Public Health Watch, a project by Protect Our Care, said the cuts to funding endanger health. 

“The virtually guaranteed outcome of the Trump administration’s political NIH grant obstruction is more death and worse health outcomes for communities of color and LGBTQ Americans. This callous policy will leave America more sick and vulnerable. These are actions of a weak, pathetic, and insecure Trump administration that at the same time bends over backwards to promote the woefully unqualified and incompetent, like Trump’s Secretaries of ‘War’ and Health.”

Kate Amistoso Breaking News Correspondent

She has previously worked for ABC 7News and Hawaii News Now, where she fell in love with getting out in the community and reporting. Kate is from the San Francisco Bay Area and grew up watching the local news at home. Seeing Asian reporters and anchors on her local broadcast news channels inspired her to pursue journalism. Her deep connection to her Filipino heritage and culture drives her to continue advocating for greater representation of underrepresented communities in the media. She is a proud... More by Kate Amistoso