African American health care workers are there for a reason.
A new book by a Washington University in St. Louis social scientist shows how hospitals, clinics and other institutions participate in “racial outsourcing,” relying heavily on black doctors, nurses, technicians and physician assistants to do “equity work” — extra labor that makes organizations and their services more accessible to communities of color.
“There’s been a sense for black Americans that their experiences are either this constant drumbeat of discrimination, or that they are able to escape the racial issues that may plague their working class or lower class counterparts,” said Adia Harvey Wingfield, professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences.