Of course I knew the meaning, that race is not an idea set in stone, and is always about the social setting, as one person in America might be called Black but in Brazil or South Africa be called a different race. When I asked, “So how do sickle cell and cystic fibrosis know who to afflict?” I added, “It’s not enough. Don’t just say that and be smug. Race is a construct but—and there’s always a but—race is also the language of health care with real consequences. Black women have more aggressive breast cancers and Black women have bigger fibroids and Black women die more often in childbirth.”
