Page 10 - Anti-Racism Pocketbook for Schools and Academies

The Impact of Racism on Ethnically Diverse Staff and Customers

Experiencing racism and inequality as an ethnically diverse

individual can have an extremely negative effect; experiencing
racism is associated with poor mental health and, to a lesser

extent, poor physical health. There is considerable research to

suggest that the stress associated with experiencing racism can

have long lasting physical effects.

Stress can elevate blood pressure and weaken the immune

system, which, in turn, raises the risk of developing long-term

health conditions.

Racism is associated with higher rates of stress, increasing an

ethnically diverse person’s risk of developing high blood pressure.

Ethnically diverse people are more likely to have hypertension

than any other racial or ethnic group.

Stress as a result of racism can also lead to behaviours that may

cause further risk to physical health. For example, research has
found that discrimination is linked to higher rates of smoking,

alcohol use, drug use, and unhealthful eating habits.

A 2019 study found that racist experiences appear to

increase inflammation in ethnically diverse people, raising their
risk of developing chronic conditions such as heart disease and

kidney disease.

Another study (Ong & Williams) found that unfair treatment of

ethnically diverse people has a significant consequential effect on

sleep and physiological functioning in midlife.

Racism can lead to mental health problems such as psychosis and
depression. After surveying 5,000 people in 2019, Stephen Ashe

identified that half of the ethnically diverse people interviewed

felt that racism had negatively impacted on their ability to do
their job, and another half were subjected to ‘verbal abuse and

racist jokes’.

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