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Mindset #3: Race & Racism Matters

What if the systems we built to move people forward are actually the ones holding communities back?

This episode takes on one of the most important and most avoided conversations in public health: the relationship between race, racism and health outcomes. Joined by conversation catalyst, Kari Bruffett, President & CEO of the Kansas Health Institute, we explore the roots of health disparities and how leadership evolves when you confront the data, history and systems that dictate who thrives.

Highlights

• Misconceptions about what led to the demise of Black Wall Street in Tulsa.
• The difference between explicit racism and systemic racism, and why both matter for Health.
• Why health disparities (the differences in outcomes) are not the same as inequities (the systemic reasons why).
• The patterns that exist in Kansas’ data that uncover systematic disparities in capital H Health.
• How redefining “equity” as equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcomes can open more productive conversations.
• How policies of the past that are rooted in racism have effects on today’s Health outcomes, and how using tactics like data walks can foster greater systematic thinking.
• How the Pathways to a Healthy Kansas project creates community conversations that focus on who benefits and who is harmed by current systems — without assigning individual blame.
• A call for the 30,000 Kansans in civic authority to lean into this conversation and start creating safe, facilitated spaces for it.

Chapters

• 2:02 – Mindset Three Preview
• 3:11 – Tulsa Run Story
• 5:28 – Systemic Racism Explained
• 9:34 – Common Ground
• 10:51 – Welcome Kari Bruffett
• 12:13 – Data Reveals Disparities
• 15:32 – Disparities vs. Inequities
• 18:16 – Equity Opportunity Frame
• 20:57 – Systems Thinking Data Walks
• 21:45 – Redlining Maps and Disadvantage
• 24:59 – Racism Remnants and Health
• 27:16 – Leading Brave Conversations
• 32:57 – Advice for Better Discourse
• 35:35 – Data Disaggregation and Access
• 37:32 – Facilitators and Preparation
• 39:18 – Fair Systems Thrive
• 42:03 – Final Thanks and Sign Off

Resources

• Race and Racism Books to Read
• Pathways to a Healthy Kansas
• KHI: A Changing Kansas Report
• KHI: Health Disparities in Kansas Research

Continue the discussion with these resources:

• Book Clubs
• Speakers and Workshops
• Share Your Story

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way. Claim your copy of the book and learn more about the movement.