Black people across the U.S. have shorter life expectancy, higher rates of stress-related medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and unmet mental health needs, higher rates of chronic health issues, devastating rates of Black maternal and infant mortality, and high rates of mortality among our trans and gender nonconforming family. 

One quarter of the Black population in the United States, 35% of Black people aged 44-65, and almost half of Black people over 65, have some form of documented disability.

A history of systemic racism, ableism, medical violence, and neglect within the health care system, combined with denial of universal, affordable, competent and quality care, has placed access to medical care out of reach for the majority of Black people. Additionally, in the current political climate, Black women, trans, intersex, and gender nonconforming people are increasingly being denied access to full sexual, gender, and reproductive autonomy.