I read your editorial with a mixture of appreciation that you’d been brave enough to say what Black communities have known for decades and sadness that in 2023 you’ve had to say it (The Guardian view on race and maternal health: a systemic problem, 19 April).
In September 2022, the Black Equity Organisation published the results of a poll of more than 4,000 Black people in the UK. A staggering 65% said they had been discriminated against by healthcare professionals because of their ethnicity. Almost two-thirds (60%) said they did not see their concerns being addressed if it was left to those responsible for the institutions that had discriminated against them.
The figures are irrefutable and there is no defence against the charge of systematic racism. There is no logical explanation for why Black mothers should be almost four times more likely to die in childbirth than their white peers. The testimony of many expectant Black women who have gone through the health system is terrifyingly consistent. They are not listened to, their requests for pain relief are denied, and they are disbelieved. When Serena Williams must battle to be heard, what chance is there for your average Black mother in the US or the UK?
Structural racism exists, and the denial of that fact means our most important institutions – the health service, the emergency services, the education system and the criminal justice system – do not treat Black people (4% of the UK population) the same as white people.
Those in positions of power must recognise that if they don’t admit structural racism exists, then we shall be stuck in a society that continues to rain the inevitable blows of racism upon Black people. Debates about the existence of structural racism waste valuable time and deflect attention. There must be a dispassionate focus on the evidence, because it tells us all we need to know.
Dr Wanda Wyporska
Chief executive officer, Black Equity Organisation