Policy Essay Guidelines
You are the director of a national public health policy organization. Elected legislators have asked you educate them about Black health inequities, and their causes. You need to write two policy essays to educate the legislators, so that they are informed about these issues. Make sure to demonstrate your clear understanding of the context: that Black: White health inequities in the United States are vast, have persisted over time, and are deeply rooted in the history of slavery, and the later state-sanctioned (and de facto) ways in which second class citizenship for Blacks in the U.S. have been enshrined in our political and social structures and social norms.
In each of the two policy essays, you need to persuasively and passionately do the following, using evidence from class (only). Each essay should be 5 to 8 pages long (double spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, 1 inch margins).
Standards
The quality of your analysis is stellar, and you show a clear, deep and independent understanding of the essay question, as well as the ways that class texts independently and as a whole answer this question. Your thesis is crystal clear, and in your first paragraph. The introductory paragraph clearly lays out a guide for what each part of your essay will do (first I will discuss X, then I will discuss the contribution of Y, then I will address how Z complicates these factors, and then I will in conclusion do T). Every paragraph contributes to your thesis, and follows a clear and logical organizational flow. Your last paragraph clearly summarizes what your main arguments, and makes clear that your thesis has been supported throughout. The quality of writing is excellent. It is clear, and logically flows. There are no misspellings, incomplete sentences, wrong word choices, and other grammatical errors. Any quotes (direct quotes can not exceed one sentence) and paraphrases are correctly cited using APA format. There is a correctly formatted reference list (which does not count towards the page requirements). *In these essays you are to only use texts (written, oral, video, data) assigned and/or discussed in class.
Reference List/Citation Guides:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_author_authors.html
Give a clear picture of the patterns in U.S. Black health inequities. Also describe how the inequitable distribution of health promoting social conditions (SES and non-economic factors) shapes Black: White health inequities in the United States. Make sure to describe the historical context, and the specific ways in which socioeconomic factors and non-socioeconomic factors serve as mechanisms through which Black inequities in health are produced. Make sure to present a clear picture of these concepts, with evidence, so that your legislators can better understand the landscape.
Unpacking the essay requirements, with text name and links below each content requirement.
1. Give a clear picture of the patterns in U.S. Black health inequities.
Williams, 2017 Ted Talk, 1 to 4 minutes
https://www.ted.com/talks/david_r_williams_how_racism_makes_us_sick?language=en#t-196829
Excess deaths over 20th century:
Jackman & Shauman, 2020, pages 303-313 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridgecore/content/view/9F0994F128271F21B04749C1E8D905C1/S1742058X20000028a.pdf/toll_of_inequality.pdf
Age-specific mortality (and morbidities)early 21st century
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5687082/
HEALTH DISPARITIES LI & NYC (Focus: King, page 88, Suffolk, page 145, and Nassau County, page100)
https://health.ny.gov/community/minority/docs/health_equity_report_2019.pdf
Kendi, 2019
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/too-short-lives-black-men/600628/
Williams, 2016
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/policy-dose/articles/2016-04-14/theres-a-huge-health-equity-gap-between-whites-and-minorities
Oppel, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/05/us/coronavirus-latinos-african-americans-cdc-data.html
Martin & Montaigne, 2017 radio documentary Lost Mothers
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/07/568948782/black-mothers-keep-dying-after-giving-birth-shalon-irvings-story-explains-why
2. Make sure to describe the historical context
Desmond, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html
Hannah-Jones, 2019:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/black-history-american-democracy.html
Garcia & Sharif, 2015: https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302706
Marcus & Gonsalvves, 2020:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/public-health-experts-are-not-hypocrites/612853/
3.Make sure to describe the specific ways in which socioeconomic factors serve as mechanisms through which Black inequities in health are produced. Make sure to describe how the inequitable distribution of health promoting social conditions (SES and non-economic factors) shapes Black: White health inequities in the United States.
Unnatural Causes Chapter 1in Sickness and in Wealth. Viewable through Old Westbury Kanopy; you must log in using OW credentials: https://oldwestbury.kanopy.com/video/sickness-and-wealth
State of Black America (2020); education, 17-20; economics, 10-11
https://soba.iamempowered.com/sites/soba.iamempowered.com/files/NUL-SOBA-2020-B-W-Index-web.pdf
Lieber & Bernard, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/your-money/race-income-equality.html
Lee, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/racial-wealth-gap.html
Podcast on the Provosts:
Part 1
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/podcasts/1619-slavery-sugar-farm-land.html
Part 2
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/podcasts/1619-slavery-farm-loan-discrimination.html