2-2 Activity Topic Introduction

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IDS-402-H7713 Wellness 23EW2 2-2 Activity: Topic Introduction Southern New Hampshire University Paul S. Nomsule 11/05/2023 Dr. Lee Daffin 1 | P a g e

Introduction Wellness is the act of practicing healthy habits on a daily basis to attain better physical and mental health outcomes; thus, excelling beyond just surviving. Wellness for me is all-encompassing. It includes the emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual aspects of life ( Lyulicheva, Yap & Hyde, 2023). Wellness is a holistic state of being. However, there are many factors that can hinder or impede our pursuit of wellness. One of the many factors is race and racism. Racism is a form of prejudice that assumes that the members of racial categories have distinctive characteristics and that these differences result in some racial groups being inferior to others ( Baston, 2023). Racism generally includes negative emotional reactions to members of a group, acceptance of negative stereotypes, and racial discrimination against individuals; in some cases, it leads to violence ( Miles,1993). Through General Education Interdisciplinary lens, I will be exploring racism as a factor that affects wellness in the African American community. I will also be exploring reliable evidence from varied sources about racism. Furthermore, I will describe racism and explore the population that is affected- African Americans. Finally, I will explore the negative societal impact of racism, but then will starts the essay with a thesis statement. 2 | P a g e

Reliable Evidence and Sources: Racism- Thesis Statement. With devasting effects and consequences, race and racism are social constructs that hinder the holistic wellness of the African American community. The African Americans were brought to the United States in chains and shackle many centuries ago. They were brought in as properties of the wealthy Europeans. Since their arrival, the Europeans have not considered them as anything other than people who should be subservient. While America prides herself as the champion of liberty, freedom, and pursuit of happiness, African American community has not been considered and given the privilege to experience full and deserving autonomy. After more than two hundred years of slavery, then came a failed reconstruction that was followed with spats of lynching and Jim Crow ( Hussey, 2016). In addition, the decades following emancipation also witnessed widespread episodes of housing redlining, civil right era, systemic and indiscriminate criminal justice incarceration, opioid epidemic, and systemic police brutality. These are just a few examples of the racial systemic challenges that African American communities have gone through in the last 400 years. Behind all these challenges are the agencies of racism and white supremacy. Racism has a significant impact on the stress levels of the victims (Richards &Wohlauer, 2021). Holistic wellness is not compatible with racism ((Lyulicheva, Yap & Hyde, 2023). The institution of systemic 3 | P a g e

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racism is traceable to white supremacy, which started with American and European imperialism, slavery, and colonialism (Goubert, 2022). Description of Issue Race and racism were social constructs that were invented in the last 400 years, which by the way coincided with the activities of European imperialism, slavery, and colonialism of the Africans. Racism is the process by which systems and policies, actions and attitudes create inequitable opportunities and outcomes for people based on race ( Kuey,2022). This goes beyond the mere saying that ‘I do not like you’. Racism is more than just prejudice in thought or action. It occurs when this prejudice – whether individual or institutional – is accompanied by the legal power to discriminate against, oppress or limit the rights of others (Kuey,2022). Racism causes prejudice, discrimination, negative biases, unfair treatment, imprisonment, unemployment and underemployment, poor dispensation of governmental social services, lack of access to healthcare, to mention but a few (Richards &Wohlauer, 2021). In order words, racism has negative consequences on every aspect of life and holistic wellness. Racism is not a mere moment of individual dislike of another individual. Racism is a group and collective system backed up by legislation with the sole desire to disadvantage an individual, groups, community, and even an entire nationality or ethnicity. 4 | P a g e

For instance, racism in the healthcare has disproportionally and negatively affected Africa Americans, which include regular people and their healthcare professionals ( Williams et al., 2023). Grimes & Roosma, 2022) categorically stated that racism inflicts mental, psychological, and emotional trauma on its victims. Whether it be the judges or the police officers, the criminal justice in American tend to disproportionately marginalize African Americans (Dunbar & Holbrook, 2023). There is no hiding away from racism and its negative effects all aspects of the African American community. It relegates them to the status of second class. Thus, racism has debilitating effects on the emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual aspects of life (Lyulicheva, Yap & Hyde). In summation, race and racism have a negative close link to wellness. Description of Population African Americans or Afro-Americans are descendants of the enslaved people who were brought on ships to North, Central and South Americas. Essentially, African Americans are people of African ancestral. Originally, they were individuals from different parts of Africa, who were captured and brought to the United State to work on the plantations. The 17th century marks the arrival of the African Americans to the Americas. Most of the African Americans were brought from West Africa. They came from different tribes and communities with diversity of cultures and traditions. Before their emancipation, they were enslaved for 5 | P a g e

more than 200 years. It was only in 1860s that they were for the first time given legal rights as free members of the society ( Morris, 2014). African Americans are the third largest racial groups in America, making up 13% of the country’s demography. Racism affects other ethnicities across America. Within African American community, there are those who identify as biracial, migrant Africans, and native born. Since, the arrival of the African Americans on the shores of the United State, they have endured many horrendous episodes of racism that no other ethnicity in the United States has experienced. African Americans are always at the heart and soul of any change and innovation in the United States. Societal Impact Research has widely shown that exposure to racism is a stressor for racial minorities (Mansouri, Jenkins & Walsh, 2012). Experiences of racism have strong associations with mental and physical health, labor market and educational outcomes, socioeconomic status, and economic inequalities ( Mansouri, Jenkins & Walsh, 2012). Exposure to racism, in combination with other adverse factors including poverty, joblessness and unstable residential accommodation, can also increase the likelihood of committing violent crimes. For example, when someone experiences discrimination in a workplace, and as a result suffers from anxiety, the economy derived from 6 | P a g e

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their contribution can be jeopardized. Housing and real estate discrimination against African Americans has a long and enduring historical tract record (Massey & Lundy, 2001). Racism in housing leads to disproportional homelessness in the African American communities. Furthermore, housing discrimination is often manifested in the form of gentrification. A house with the same quality in the same zip code but own by European American is often prized higher than the same house owned by an African American. The crust of the discrimination and prejudice is the function of ‘white privilege’ ( Kwate & Goodman, (2014). A wealth distribution influenced by racism is not democratic at all. General Education Interdisciplinary Lens Since General Education Interdisciplinary curriculum offers a broad array of courses to be studied, it precisely becomes the best lens through which one can evaluate the impact of race and racism on the holistic wellness of the African American community. Through the General Education Interdisciplinary curriculum, one can take classes in the social sciences, humanities, histories, natural and applied sciences. By recruiting all the valuable academic resources that General Education Interdisciplinary curriculum can offer, it becomes much more feasibility to address and ask pertinent question about the causes and effects of race and racism; especially how it affects the wellness of the African Americans. As a student of General Education, I have taken a number of classes across the board. The variety of every discipline has sufficiently equipped me to 7 | P a g e

tackle and address the issues of race and racism; especially, issues which have devasting effects and consequences on the community of African Americans. Indeed, race and racism are social construct, which has hindered the holistic wellness of the African American community in the North America 8 | P a g e

References Baston (2023). From old-fashioned to offensive racism: How social norms determine the measurement object of prejudice questionnaires. Philosophical Psychology, 36 (2), 247–269. https://doi- org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1080/09515089.2022.2029386 Dunbar, A., & Holbrook, M. A. (2023). A color-blind Lens: public perceptions of systemic racism in the criminal justice system. Crime, Law & Social Change, 79 (1), 1–20. https://doi- org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1007/s10611-022-10032-3 Grimes, T. O., & Roosma, S. K. (2022). The Impact of Racial Trauma: A Crucial Conversation in Rural Education. Rural Educator, 43 (3), 41–53. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.55533/2643-9662.1327 Goubert, A. E. A. (2022). Slavery, Colonialism, and Ecological Imperialism: Insights from Stratification Economics. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 8 1(3). https://doi- org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1111/ajes.12473 Hussey, M. (2016). The rise of the Jim Crow era (First edition.). Britannica Educational Publishing in association with Rosen Educational Services. Kuey, L. (2022). Clarifying Definitions of,Race", Racism, and 9 | P a g e

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Ethnocentrism. European Psychiatry, 65, S35. https://doi- org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.123 Kwate, N. O. A., & Goodman, M. S. (2014). An empirical analysis of White privilege, social position and health. Social science & medicine, 116, 150-160. Lyulicheva, M., Yap, S. F., & Hyde, K. (2023). Identity transition process: a study of the holistic wellness retreat experience . Journal of Consumer Marketing, 40 (4), 506–520. https://doi- org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1108/JCM-11-2021-5027 Massey, D. S., & Lundy, G. (2001). Use of Black English and racial discrimination in urban housing markets: New methods and findings. Urban affairs review, 36 (4), 452-469. Miles, R. (1993). Racism after ‘race relations. Psychology Press. Monique W. Morris. (2014). Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-first Century . The New Press. Mansouri, F., Jenkins, L., & Walsh, L. (2012). Racism and its impact on the health and wellbeing of Australian youth: Empirical and theoretical insights . Education and Society, 30 (1), 77-94. Richards, R. D., & Wohlauer, M. V. (2021). Coming face to face with 10 | P a g e

implicit bias, microaggressions, and macroaggressions: Understanding the influence of structural racism and misogyny on physician wellness. Journal of Vascular Surgery, 74 (2), 101S– 110S. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1016/j.jvs.2021.04.021 Williams, M. S., Myers, A. K., Finuf, K. D., Patel, V. H., Marrast, L. M., Pekmezaris, R., & Martinez, J. (2023). Black Physicians’ Experiences with Anti-Black Racism in Healthcare Systems Explored Through an Attraction-Selection-Attrition Lens . Journal of Business & Psychology, 38 (1), 75–88. https://doi- org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1007/s10869-022-09825-z They sit in front of a TV playing video games and eating snacks. As a part of this historical moment, what wellness issue or event do you believe will be considered important to explain current society? Choose a wellness issue or event that is different from your project topic. How is this issue or event connected to the concept of wellness? How does reflecting on your issue or event impact your understanding of wellness and current issues/events? . 11 | P a g e

2-2 Activity Topic Introduction

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