Dear friend,

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Happy New Year! The month of January celebrates both Martin Luther King Jr. and the Lunar New Year. When I think of the history of African Americans and Asian Americans in this country, it brings to mind an article I recently read, Transitional Justice – A Politico-Legal Approach to Health Equity, where the authors use a transitional justice framework of truth-telling, memorialization, accountability, and reparations to address health equity. I found it a helpful framework, given the recent backlash against the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion movement, in that it allows us to understand the bigger picture of why we are doing this work and the true and deep root causes of health disparities. The article gives good concrete examples for each component of the framework and ends by reminding the reader that “It is imperative that these efforts are implemented in authentic partnership with communities, to counterbalance competing interests and avert implementation of ineffective measures that serve solely to enhance an institution’s reputation.”

In this work, it’s important that we tie the current work to our history, to better understand how we got here. I hope you’ll be as inspired by the article as I was.

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Aswita Tan-McGrory, MBA, MSPH

Director