Dear Black Voices

Here’s what I know with certainty

Systemic racism, anti-Black bias, and white privilege exist and are prevalent in the US. The Black experience in the United States is something that no one who hasn’t lived it can understand.

Dear white readers who want to argue about this … please be quiet and listen.

***

An abbreviated timeline of Black medicine in the US

Dr. James Durham was born into slavery. He was owned by several doctors and eventually bought his freedom. He practiced medicine for 18 years. In 1788 Dr. Benjamin Rush, a prominent white physician, read the paper that Dr. Durham wrote on diphtheria to the College of Physicians in Philadelphia. Dr. Durham was not allowed to present his own paper, because he was Black.
In 1801 Dr. Durham was forced to shut down his practice because he did not have a medical degree. The rest of his life and his death remain a mystery.

Side Note: Encyclopedia.com called the years Durham spent serving his slave masters an “apprenticeship”. That is what we mean when we say white washed history.

***

In 1837 Dr. James McCune became the first Black American to earn a medical degree. He had to go all the way to Scotland to do it. He returned to the US and established a medical practice in New York City. He was published in American medical journals but was never admitted to the American Medical Association (AMA) or any local Medical Association due to the color of his skin and so could not practice in any hospital.

***

In 1847 Dr. David Jones Peck graduated from Rush Medical College in Chicago, IL. He became the first Black American to earn a medical degree in the United States. He was never accepted into the medical community as a whole.

***

In 1852 The Jackson Street Hospital was founded in Augusta, GA. This hospital for Black Americans was staffed entirely by white people and was advertised to slave owners specifically.

***

In 1912 Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller published a comprehensive clinical review of all Alzheimer’s cases up to that point. He was the first person to translate much of Alois Alzheimer’s work on the disease. Dr. Fuller is recognized as the first Black American psychiatrist but is given very little recognition for his work in the field.

***

In 1936 Dr. William Augustus Hinton published his book “Syphillis and Its Treatment”, the first medical textbook written by a Black American. Even though Hinton had received a medical degree at Harvard University, he was unable to practice at any hospital in Boston because he was Black.

***

For a comprehensive timeline of Black American achievements in medicine, click here.

***

The Point

By now, some of my white readers are saying, “Okay, but that was then and this is now. It’s better now.”

So let me state the point that y’all are missing.

It’s not better enough.

We can acknowledge that the systemic and societal treatment of Black Americans is better now than it was before but still believe it needs improving. Both things can be true. It might be better and still not be good enough.

***

Just to be clear

Since the founding of our country Black people have been left behind and pushed down in nearly every field. When we can recount the entire history of the Black experience in the any field by listing individual names and dates, how can we accept that as proof of equality?

Do you see?

In the example of the medical community, a Black man was taught by the white men who purchased and owned him and we call it an “apprenticeship”, yet we still closed his practice down. Black men who wanted to study medicine had to leave the country in order to be trained. The standard of medical recognition, the AMA, refused to recognize Black doctors well into the 20th century.

Still, today, less than 6% of the medical community is made up of Black doctors and less than 10% of nurses are Black. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that all Medical schools in the US even accepted Black students. The mentality that kept Black students from institutions of higher education didn’t just disappear.

All Americans who attend medical or nursing school are taught largely by white professors and this can affect how they treat their Black patients.

Also, please do not try to give me Dr. Ben Carson as proof that Black people are doing just fine in the medical community because, again, when we have to rely on anecdotes of just a few select individuals, we are not where we need to be. (I won’t get into Carson’s clear personal colorism bias, this isn’t that article.)

The fact is, Black American’s have had to fight for every advancement and continue to have to fight to this very day. We can not simply say, “Slavery is over, so we aren’t racist.” It doesn’t work that way.

***

Here’s where I need perspective

I recently heard an example of the Black Experience in the US that really struck me, more so than one-offs and well-known statistics. When a Black person in the US pays for a pack of gum with a one-dollar bill, they are confronted with the face of a man who is recognized as an American hero and who would have thought of them as property. Dear Black Consumers: How does this sort of dualism (obviously present in so many other places) affect your mental health, your outlook, your view of our country?

***

Doc McStuffins was lauded as an amazingly progressive toy, portraying a young Black girl whose mother is a doctor. Fewer than 5% of all young black girls have any chance of living that life. I see that life as a beautiful future we should all be working toward, but we are clearly not there yet. Dear Black Role Models: How do you see the Doc McStuffins’ of the world, the Black Barbie, the books and movies portraying Black people and culture?

***

Beyoncé is a beautiful, powerful, amazing woman. She is not a typical American. Her experience with pregnancy does not reflect the experience of a Black woman I know and love who recently had twins. Dear Black Women: How does the fact that a Black woman is 2–3 times more likely to die during child birth affect your hope when it comes to having children?

***

Dear Black Voices

I know about the system, I know about the laws, I know about the violence that makes the news, and I know about the protests. I know the anecdotes that are shared on social media, in podcasts, and even in mainstream articles. I’ve listened to what you have told me in music, I’ve seen through your eyes in film. And, still I can only ever experience it as a rural white American. I don’t know enough about the struggle of the everyday Black American and I’m not sure I ever could.

I hear you when you say your voices are tired. I hear you when you say you are done answering the same questions. I want to stand up with you and make my voice heard next to you, but I do not have the answers.

I ask these questions because I seek to better understand the problem and because I want to be part of the solution.

—

This post was previously published on Medium.

***

You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project

Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often

Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It

The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex

..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything