Building A Pro-Black World

What Is Healing Justice?

Nineequa Blanding

In public health, we often talk about closing the gap in health inequities in order to create conditions for optimal health for all. These discussions reflect a growing consensus that health is a human right, which sets the stage for a shared vision of health justice. They also mirror ongoing efforts to achieve racial equity by addressing structural racism and its attendant injustices, and, in the process, expanding the health focus from the individual to the collective and society. These conversations and the work they inspire position the field of public health as a major actor in helping to protect, promote, and preserve our wellness.

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well‐being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”¹ It is “a dynamic state of wellbeing emergent from conducive interactions between individuals' potentials, life's demands, and social and environmental determinants.”² Although our collective health and well‐being depend on mutuality and our ability to heal, these critical concepts are often missing from public health discussions centered on addressing health inequities.

Focusing on mutualism and healing builds a shared understanding of our interdependence and our inherent capacity to heal. As we strive to create conditions in which everyone can thrive, we must all collectively heal from the trauma caused by structural racism and understand that our connections with one another ...