Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings‘ career navigates the intersection of public policy, health equity, and social justice. As an SNF Agora Visiting Fellow, she is bringing her experience in these domains to bear on questions of racism and ageism in American democracy. At her upcoming community workshop, she will be inviting participants to engage with these urgent issues and explore how they can take action.
Her family’s history has shaped her worldview. “I am the fourth generation from slavery on my mother’s side,” she says. “My ancestors were brought across the Atlantic to work for free here in the United States.” That legacy, woven into the broader American story, shaped how she sees the world. And it shaped her parents’ story. They grew up in the Jim Crow South, where segregation dictated every aspect of their lives, from the schools they attended to the neighborhoods they lived in.
A contrasting legacy is Dr. Rockeymoore Cummings’ own upbringing. She grew up in a military family where racial integration was the norm. The U.S. military had officially desegregated in the 1950s, and on or near military bases, she went to school with children from all backgrounds, races, and religions. “It was normal for us to be in this kind of context,” she recalls.
The stark contrast between her experiences and that of her parents – between living in integrated spaces and inhabiting a country still shaped by systemic racial divisions – fueled her deep curiosity about how systems shape opportunity and who gets left behind. She turned that curiosity into action. Studying political science became a way to understand how policies determine well-being. While researching her dissertation, she moved to Washington to study how Congress was responding to the growing HIV/AIDS crisis among Black and Latino communities. It quickly became apparent that public health and politics were inseparable. Decisions made in committee rooms determined who had access to care and who was left behind.
These experiences and research led Dr. Rockeymoore Cummings to write RAGEISM: Racism, Ageism, and the Quest for Liberation Democracy. The book bears witness to the ways racism and ageism intersect to block communities of color from fully participating in American life. She argues that people often overlook the political roots of these inequities. “Politics determines health,” she says. “We misunderstand the impact of racism when we focus only on social determinants of health without recognizing how deeply politics structures these disparities.”
She reframes public health by emphasizing the central role of politics in shaping health outcomes. “People need to understand that the ‘public’ in public health is public policy,” she explains. “It’s about the structures of politics and policy and how that shapes the public’s health.” Ignoring this connection, she argues, allows systemic inequities to persist. Political decisions determine who has access to clean water, quality healthcare, and economic security. These choices dictate who lives healthier lives and who remains vulnerable.
Flint, Michigan, is one of many places where policy failures have poisoned communities, both literally and figuratively. The crisis was not just a failure of infrastructure but of democracy itself. State leaders stripped power from local officials and ignored residents’ warnings, gambling on a health solution that harmed an entire community. “People were left holding the bag,” she says. “Their health was permanently impacted, their economic security shattered. And the people responsible? No real accountability.”
Flint is not an isolated case. Similar failures happen in cities and rural communities across the country. When policymakers disregard the voices of marginalized communities, those communities suffer. The harm is not just personal. It weakens democracy itself.
The solution requires both policy change and civic engagement. “We have to dismantle the structures that create these disparities…. It’s not enough to acknowledge them. We need a democracy that actually works for everyone.”
Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings invites students, advocates, and policymakers to her upcoming community workshop at SNF Agora to move beyond discussion and into action. This workshop is a conversation and a call to address the systemic inequities she outlines in RAGEISM. Participants will better understand how racism and ageism intersect to shape society and leave equipped with practical tools for advocacy. “I want people to leave thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to take action.’ And then I want them to know exactly how to do it,” she says.
The workshop is open to all, but she especially encourages public health and political science students, community organizers, and anyone invested in making democracy more inclusive to attend. “Democracy isn’t just an idea,” she says. “It’s something we build together.”
Join Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings for this critical conversation on Tuesday, April 8, from 12:00 to 1:00 pm at the SNF Agora Institute. This workshop is a chance to engage, learn, and be part of the movement toward a democracy that includes everyone.