Collaborations: Immigration and Healthcare Access
Deported: The Price of Our Prosperity
Pulitzer Prize鈥搘inning journalist Caitlin Dickerson examined the systemic flaws within the United States鈥� immigration system, situating it within a historical framework dating back to 1790. She explained that early immigration policies were designed to preserve whiteness and racial control, disproportionately benefiting white undocumented immigrants from Eastern Europe while further marginalizing non-white undocumented immigrants. Dickerson emphasized how the humanity of these individuals was routinely disregarded, reinforcing oppression rooted in racial hierarchies.
She traced enduring stereotypes about immigrants to the pseudoscience of eugenics, noting how immigrants have long been portrayed as threats associated with crime, poverty, and disease in order to sustain narratives of purity and nationalism. Dickerson also discussed how political parties have exploited fear surrounding immigration to consolidate power, rather than addressing the structural issues within the system. She highlighted data showing that undocumented immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes and are essential to many sectors of the U.S. economy.
Dickerson further explored how immigration enforcement, particularly through Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has become more visible due to increased media access, while these practices themselves are not new. Despite public outrage, ICE funding has continued to grow. She shared firsthand accounts of individuals detained by ICE, underscoring their humanity and the importance of collective solidarity and support.
She concluded by urging the audience to recognize immigration status as a constructed identity that, like race, is used to limit opportunity and dignity. Immigrants, she emphasized, are not statistics, but human beings whose lives and contributions deserve recognition, compassion, and justice.
Winston Center Staff
Presented with the Lowell Humanities Series
听
Dignity and Care: A Human Right and an American Right
The Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution is a stirring documentary chronicling the historic struggle to secure equal and adequate access to healthcare for all Americans. The documentary opened with narratives from black doctors and nurses who shared their personal stories of healthcare discrimination before the civil rights movement, and how, even in training, they were forced to learn separately from their white peers with often lesser resources.
The American Medical Association (AMA) was historically the driving force behind the enforcement of healthcare policy and dictated the who, how, where, and how people of color received medical care. Black doctors were excluded from membership in the AMA and were forced to start their own association, the National Medical Association (NMA).听 NMA became a formidable partner of President Lyndon B. Johnson in his fight to make Medicare, integrated healthcare for all seniors regardless of race, gender, or orientation, a reality. The AMA opposed integrated healthcare, and it took a threat to withhold federal funds before hospital systems were inclined to get on board.
Following the documentary, Leah Gordon, the associate dean for inclusive excellence, diversity, and belonging in the Connell School moderated a panel with the filmmaker Barbara Berney, associate professor at the City University of New York School of Public Health; Connell School鈥檚 associate dean for Research and Integrated Science, Diana Bowser; and associate professor in the School of Social Work, Tom Byrne.
Dr. Berney shared that her motivation for making the film was that she was unaware of this part of the story听and that it was not being taught in public health or medical schools. She emphasized that a key message in the film is about collective organization and rallying around important issues. That was what the civil rights era was about, and that is the reason that we have Medicare. Dr. Bowser said it is not lost that the vote in Congress today is around extending subsidies in healthcare for the disadvantaged. She mused that it seemed like they were fighting for the same thing all over again. Dr. Byrne cautioned that we must not forget that access to healthcare does not mean equal health outcomes, and he shared the correlation of housing access and disparate health outcomes in today鈥檚 landscape.
Dr. Berney ended with hopeful comments to a student who asked about how to decide what impact they can make in a career they choose, that it is the courage of people who get things done and make change. She said keep fighting even if it feels like you鈥檙e losing, as it doesn鈥檛 mean that we wouldn鈥檛 win over time.
Winston Center Staff
Presented with the Connell School, School of Social Work, and the Boston College Law School.听