“Health” is not something that exists in a vacuum. The Hogg Foundation is driven by our conviction that a more just world is also a healthier one. That’s one of the reasons why we talk so often about the “social determinants of health.” The World Health Organization defines social determinants as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life.”

For blacks in the U.S., a key social determinant is the community impact of unequal policing. In this episode, Dr. Christen Smith, an associate professor of African and Diaspora Studies and anthropology at The University of Texas, and the host, Ike Evans, sit down for a wide-ranging conversation about the impact of inequality on the health and well-being of blacks in the U.S. and beyond, using recent events such as the tragic death of Erica Garner in December 2017 as a backdrop.

The episode is broken into Parts 1 and 2. We hope you listen to both!