stereotypes as true (internalized racism) can harm cardiovascular health. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, in 2018, African Americans were 30% more likely to die from heart disease than non-Hispanic whites. Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive, irreversible neurodegenerative disease and it is the leading cause of dementia. African Americans are disproportionately affected by Alzheimer's, with higher prevalence and incidence in African Americans than the overall average. Genetics are a huge risk factor for Alzheimer’s, but known high-risk genes for the disease have different effect sizes in African Americans compared to other racial groups. Fear of racism It has been argued that while actual racism continues to harm health, fear of racism, due to historical precedents, can also cause some minority populations to avoid seeking medical help. For example, a 2003 study found that a large percentage of respondents perceived discrimination targeted at African American women in the area of reproductive health. Likewise beliefs such as "The government is trying to limit the Black population by encouraging the use of condoms" have also been studied as possible explanations for the different attitudes of whites and blacks towards efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Infamous examples of real racism in the past, such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932–1972), have injured the level of trust in the Black community towards public health efforts. The Tuskegee study deliberately left Black men diagnosed with syphilis untreated for 40 years. It was the longest nontherapeutic experiment on human beings in medical history. The AIDS epidemic has exposed the Tuskegee study as a historical marker for the legitimate discontent of Black people with the public health system. The false belief that AIDS is a form of genocide is rooted in recent experiences of real racism. These theories range from the belief that the government promotes drug abuse in Black communities to the belief that HIV is a manmade weapon of racial warfare. Researchers in public health hope that open and honest conversations about racism in the past can help rebuild trust and improve the health of people in these communities. Environmental racism Environmental racism is the intentional or unintentional targeting of minority communities for the siting of polluting industries such as toxic waste disposal, through the race-based differential enforcement of environmental rules and regulations and exclusion of people of color from public and private