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I don't know how I missed this excellent commentary from @RRHDr and @BeahboutIT on examining racism in health services research (HSR), but now I've seen it and every HSR needs to see it and act too. A 
highlighting some of my fave points: 1/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518806/
highlighting some of my fave points: 1/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518806/
"By separating health disparities from racism, we fail to recognize disparities as inequitiesâthat is avoidable injustices. Instead, we focus on individual differences rather than the systems and structures that uphold and replicate them." YES to this. We treat systems 2/
as exogenous (sorry not sorry, I'm an economist first 
) like they've emerged fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus, ignoring how they got there in the first place. That makes it SO easy to see health disparities as a natural state of the world, rather than one 3/
) like they've emerged fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus, ignoring how they got there in the first place. That makes it SO easy to see health disparities as a natural state of the world, rather than one 3/
created by historical and contemporary policies and norms. Then they make a key point about storytelling. Specifically: "For example, research questions are often phrased as âwhat causes Black people to have so many disadvantages compared to whites; and, what forces are at 4/
work?â This question or variations of it are widely used and accepted among health services researchers and at first look appear innocuous and even virtuous. In reality, this type of question reinforces racism and white supremacy, suggesting a black deficit and subtly 5/
reinforcing a narrative and a story that is privileged over other stories. This framing retells the story of black people engaging in poor health behaviors; sometimes, these research questions highlight that black people have limited access to resources. These narratives are 6/
told over and over again." The discipline is designed to keep us examining the 'what' and we have few incentives to really understand the 'why' when it comes to racial disparities in health. They note that: "Rarely are research questions centered on âWhy do Black people have 7/
stellar outcomes when compared to whites for x disease?â or âWhat aspects of Black social networks help individuals diagnosed with chronic diseases succeed?â Even when our research questions acknowledge that health is not solely the result of individual action, we fail to 8/
of research questions that center black successes and triumphs. Thus, seemingly neutral research questions are not neutral." They snatched my wig too, and I've been doing health equity research for a LONG time! Come through with this reframe sista scholars! 9/
Come through with this reframe sista scholars! 9/
"As a discipline, health services researchers have often elevated large quantitative datasets as the penultimate source of objectivity and the source of empirical fact. However, when we apply public health critical race praxis methodological approach, we see that our methods 10/
are fundamentally flawed because they rarely identify, name, and interrogate the influence of white supremacy, the white racial frame, and structural racism." *whispers* Also, data collection is hard and complicated and many of us don't have the training or desire or 11/
interdisciplinary collaborations to do it. 
This means we have to better understand what our categories of race have meant over time, understand underlying structure, and have a seat at the table when national datasets are being developed and collect our own data. That is 12/
This means we have to better understand what our categories of race have meant over time, understand underlying structure, and have a seat at the table when national datasets are being developed and collect our own data. That is 12/
the only way to get this right, along with continuing to critically interrogate the root causes of racial inequalities in health (i.e., racism). And we also have to think about WHO is leading this research and why Black scholars fail to reap the same rewards as non-Black 13/
scholars for studying racial inequalities in health. (But that's a story for a different time.) Ultimately, this is a scientific love letter that calls for dismantling racism in HSR in service of better science. And this is a call to action that we must all embrace. End 14/
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