Racial and Ethnic Health Care Disparities, Reaction Paper Example

Jones attempts to create a framework to understand racism and health disparities on three different levels: institutional, personal and internalized. Through the allegory of the gardener’s tale of the two flower boxes, she states that even though the same seeds are used for both boxes, the quality of soil determines the fate of the flowers. The seeds that hit the fertile, good quality soil would become strong flowers (people would achieve good health outcomes) while the ones in the old, rocky soil would be weak or die. However, the author does not only explain the health disparities, but prejudice and institutional racism through the tale as well. If the gardener does not consider the quality of the soil, they assume that the seeds planted in the low quality soil are inferior; hence ethnic minority groups’ capability to achieve better health outcome is lower.

Jones states that the only solution to tackle internalized racism (one’s perception of inferiority based on others’ assumptions on their race) is to tell them: “Pink is beautiful”. In my opinion, the question is much more complicated than that. While the author signifies the role of the “gardener” (government), she does not explain the impact of the society. In this tale, we do not see “red flowers” acting in a racist manner. They do not engage in scapegoating and purse clutching activity. Therefore, one aspect is missing from the tale that would explain the complexity of health disparities in the U.S. society. A more vivid and comprehension allegory would contain scenes of bees (members of the society and health care professionals) agreeing with the “pink flowers” and ignoring them. It would also feature “red flowers” protecting their soil from “pink seeds” and their flowers from the pollen from “pinks”. While the story does illustrate the three aspects of race-based health disparities in the United States, the role of prejudice and discrimination needs to be investigated further to create a full picture through the allegory.

Works Cited

Jones, C. “Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardener’s Tale” American Journal of Public Health. August 2000, Vol. 90, No. 8. Print.