Reflecting on this week’s seminar, I’ve spent some time thinking about Williams’ discussion on key social determinants of African-Americans’ health. In his article, he notes that “a small body of research suggests that the prevalence of negative stereotypes and cultural images of stigmatized groups can adversely affect health status” (185). This point makes me wonder whether minorities’ re-appropriation these images might blunt their negative health effects. For example, a student group recently repurposed an image of Nicki Minaj that some felt that objectified and exotified black women’s bodies for a party invitation. I question whether such an action can counter the psychosocial stress that some black women may feel as a result of other discriminatory media depictions. Indeed, this may provide a feeling of empowerment for those who believe that black women should be able to expose their bodies in the same way that white models and other icons do, often without reproach.

Furthermore, I am interested in the finding that black-white morality ratio for “flu and pneumonia” was 1.44 in 1995. Such a disparity is shocking because death from a communicable disease like the flu is often regarded as a problem associated with the developing world. Recent data from Arizona in 2015 shows that this gradient has endured, which was particularly surprising given the proliferation of flu vaccines. I wonder how state and federal agencies will go about expanding flu vaccine access for minorities, as CDC data from the 2013-2014 flu season showed that 45.4% of white adults 18 years old and above got vaccinated, while only 35.6% of non-hispanic blacks and 33.1% of Hispanics did. Moreover, the fact that the coverage rate amongst children 6-17 years old was higher for Hispanic children (66%) than non-hispanic whites (55.2%) was all the more surprising, underscoring the need to tailor the way we address racial health disparities to specific age groups.