Racism is a disease that's causing the early death of those afflicted by it. It's also insidious, whereby the racist queues in society can turn those without negative ideologies into racists.

In a Ted talk by a renowned sociologist and Harvard professor, David Williams, he explained a study he conducted which discovered that early death among African Americans is directly related to racism. He created a scale to measure the health effects of different incidents of discrimination, from major to minor/subtle ones, on black Americans, and discovered that higher levels of discrimination lead to an increase in the risk of many diseases and of premature death. Williams also found that black Americans received lesser quality medical care at every level.

These findings reveal that there is more to racism than social and economic inequality. Which makes tackling the issue of racism all the more important. It's troubling that with all the technological and scientific advancements that society has made, a part of us is still living in the dark ages. Living in the belief that one's skin color can somehow affect their intellectual ability, worth or psychological/social traits. This sounds laughable if you say it to yourself, yet many people are holding on to this belief.

Scientists say that race is not a biological attribute, but rather a social construct and thus would have no bearing on any of these traits. The article further states that there is no scientific evidence of the existence of genetic differences in intelligence between populations. This should have put the racists' claims to rest, but despite that they continue to promote their fallacy based ideology.

The other important point that Williams pointed out was "unconscious discrimination," it's the preconception one has in their subconscious, from what they were exposed to in society, about someone that causes this person to jump to a negative conclusion more quickly. Williams said this could be an important factor in some of the police shootings of black people.

Juneteenth could have been an opportunity to start this discussion, but it passed without much fanfare about its significance or any discussion about how to tackle racism in America. A

rising problem that's negatively affecting Americans more than before. Racism should at least get the same level of rancor as other forms of discrimination.

There is no reason why we cannot combat racism in America and around the world. But to do that we must first acknowledge its existence and be ready to question ourselves and be honest about changing the way we act. Everyone should start with themselves first.