Area officials kicked off Stand Against Racism Friday morning, an annual event designed to build awareness about race and ethnicity in the Rochester area.
It's organized by the YWCA of Rochester & Monroe County, and the organization's president Jean Carroll says it's not enough just to change individual minds about racism; She says there are structural factors at work here also.
“Often, when we think of racism, we think of it as “me” as a person, that I’m biased, but there are structures that exist in our institutions and throughout our community that continue to be barriers to people of color in moving ahead”
Officials at the kickoff event noted that among the disparities in the Rochester area that have roots in racism is the health status of some local residents, compared to the overall population.
Dr. Nancy Bennett is Director of the Center for Community Health at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She says there is a wide disparity of health outcomes in the region.
“In some neighborhoods in Rochester you might as well be living in a developing country; the health status is so markedly different from other neighborhoods in Rochester, and this is horrifying and unethical and one of the things that contributes to that is racism,” Bennett said at a Friday morning news conference.
There will be an event on April 29th at the Riverside Convention Center to talk about best practices needed to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care.
There's more information on the entire effort at www.standagainstracism.org
