Adding health to the reparations conversation in Boston

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It’s usually economists, historians, advocates or politicians who make the case for reparations to address centuries of harm for people of color that started with slavery. One form reparations can take is direct payments that could close the wealth gap between Black and White Americans. That gap, which includes income and assets like a home, is vast and growing. But some health and public health experts are weighing in as well. They’re making the case for reparations as a tool to reduce deep disparities in health for people of color. Multiple studies have linked racism to poorer health and shorter life expectancy for Black Americans compared to whites. Yet, broader reparations efforts have struggled to find political support and funding. Dr. Mary Bassett, director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard, says that needs to change. “Reparations can be seen as a health intervention, not only a moral repair, but a way of addressing these long-standing health inequities,” Bassett told an audience at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health last week. “Money has to be part of it, let me be clear about that.” Bassett co-authored a study that suggested closing the wealth gap could...

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