The magnitude and persistence of racial inequities in health call on U.S. policy makers to seriously confront what Du Bois (1899) referred to as the “peculiar indifference” to the magnitude of human suffering that racial disparities in health reflect. Policy makers need to identify the real and perceived barriers to implementing comprehensive societal initiatives that are necessary to eliminating racial differences in health. More systematic and sustained attention should be given to how to frame such efforts in ways that resonate with dominant American ideals. Widely cherished norms of equal opportunity and the dignity of the individual could be creatively harnessed to build the needed political support to improve the health of all Americans, including those that currently live shorter and sicker lives than the rest of the population.
