Health is a Human Right

Race & Place in America

Our sense of family and place is critical to our well-being—both physical and mental.  Having a safe, stable home and community is important for health.  Involuntary removal from family and home—displacement—disrupts entire communities, cultures and traditions.  Although the United States is a nation of immigrants, we have a long history of forced migrations, beginning with the African slave trade. From the relocation of Native Americans from their tribal homes to internments of Japanese American citizens in World War II to the recent foreclosure crisis, these displacements have disproportionately impacted minority communities.

Many Americans were impacted by the recent foreclosure crisis, but African Americans and Latinos were nearly twice as likely to have lost their homes to foreclosures compared to whites.