Saving Ourselves

A searing exposé of the medical racism killing Black women and a celebration of the committed caregivers, activists, and policymakers who are fighting back. Black women and gender expansive people are experiencing a crisis of premature mortality. Plagued by the twin traumas of structural racism and sexism, they experience health outcomes dramatically worse than other demographic groups in the United States. This public health crisis begins with infant mortality rates nearly double the national average and ends with significantly reduced life expectancies. Veteran journalist and racial and disability justice advocate Kenrya Rankin elucidates the root causes of this deadly inequity, from residential segregation to medical neglect by biased health-care providers and discriminatory assumptions coded into medical software. Moving beyond statistics, she traces the life cycle of Black women and gender expansive people from birth and adolescence through old age and death, introducing us to parents forced to undergo C-sections, trans youth fighting for culturally congruent care, and cancer patients whose doctors ignored their symptoms for far too long. But Saving Ourselves is also a story of hope and resistance. Drawing on extensive interviews with health-care practitioners, activists, and researchers, Rankin creates a road map for healthy Black communities, celebrates the lifesaving contributions of Black care workers, and advocates for policies that will save us all.