Why MLK’s Views Matter Today · Black Public Health Nerd

Tycoma Miller

5d • General discussion

Why MLK’s Views Matter Today

🧠🖤 Black Public Health Nerd Moment

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t just fight for voting rights and desegregation—he fought for health equity.

In 1966, MLK said:

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

— Speech to the Medical Committee for Human Rights, Chicago, 1966

That wasn’t a metaphor. He meant it literally.

MLK understood—long before the term existed—that where you live, work, worship, and play determines how long and how well you live. He spoke openly about:

• Poor housing

• Environmental hazards

• Poverty and unemployment

• Segregated neighborhoods

• Lack of access to quality health care

In other words: social determinants of health.

He recognized racism and poverty as life-shortening forces and believed government, medical systems, and faith institutions had a moral obligation to act—principles later reflected in the Poor People’s Campaign and his advocacy for guaranteed income, housing, and health care.

Fast forward to today, and the same patterns show up in:

• Higher asthma rates

• Lead and toxic exposures

• Shorter life expectancy

• Preventable chronic disease

• Maternal and infant mortality

MLK’s message is clear:

👉 Health inequity is not accidental.

👉 It is produced by unjust systems.

👉 And addressing it is a civil rights issue.

Public health is justice work. Always has been.

#BlackPublicHealthNerd #MLKDay #HealthEquity #PublicHealthIsJustice #EnvironmentalJustice #SocialDeterminantsOfHealth