The following reflections were presented at a recent OB/GYN division town hall meeting focused on discussing matters of racism.
So the things that have happened these last few weeks have hurt quite a bit and I am very thankful to have this opportunity to share my thoughts with you all and where I think we should look to go from here. From watching how the pandemic disproportionately affected people of color, to Americas reckoning on racism. To say these last few months have been exhausting is an understatement. I just want to take spend a few minutes giving a perspective from my mere 30 years on this planet and what has occurred these past few weeks and how I think we can make things a little bit better.
With that – I was born at Mount Sinai West. My dad came from Jamaica and my mom from Haiti. My family moved to South Florida when I was in the 2nd grade so that my brother and I could go to better schools and have more opportunities to become successful. Education was always very important in my household and my parents always taught me to be my very best especially when I had the honor of serving others. I purposefully live my life with their values of being a peacemaker and voice of reason. Currently I am a newly minted PGY-6 MFM fellow here at Mount Sinai Hospital. I went to medical school at a 7 year MD/BS program at the University of Florida and did my residency at Stony Brook Hospital in Long Island, NY. I spend a lot of my free time mentoring or working in the community. I go to the health department and attend breast feeding classes, I precept the EHHOP clinic with medical students, I enjoy global health and addressing health care disparities when I see them. I enjoy teaching and actually won the medical student teaching award in residency. I have an older brother who is studying business, a mother and 5 aunts who are nurses, a father and a step father. And I tell you all of that to show you that this woman, this black woman has to still ask, “Does my life matter?” Because I know that in this country, being black is a capital offense. And you are guilty, period. And you wonder why we ask the question, “does my life matter?” You wonder why blacks get upset when you dilute the conversation and say, “all lives matter.” Believe me, we know this better than anyone. We’re just asking, can we also matter. Can you stop putting obstacles in our way to keep us down. Can you please stop focusing on me, as just another black person who deserves no respect, no dignity, no freedom. George Floyd represents me. That police officer represented all that is wrong with society. That police officer brought this black man to his knees. He needed George to understand that he was better than him. That his life was in his hands and he had the power to take it. And he did. He took my breath away also. He allowed all things that I’ve held back all my life, all the injustices, all the negative racial comments. All the “you’ll never make it because you’re black” “is there another doctor I can see?” “are you here to pick up my garbage” “you don’t belong in our neighborhood.” “you can never be as smart as us” “is this car stolen?” “you are not good enough” being called a “nigger” as I walked to the school bus or played in my front yard. We still live in that house. He brought back Trayvon Martin and Walter Scott. Sandra Bland and Mike Brown. As I watched George lay there dying all these thoughts came back. We all say that we are people of faith and really we work in the ultimate service career. The country was built on Christian principles, yet we cannot remember one of the most important principles of all. Love your neighbor as yourself. I am your neighbor. I am you. If this is love, I really don’t want to see hate. I want to have a part in making this world a better place for all of us. Blacks, whites, brown, it doesn’t matter to me. But what matters to me now is that I leave this world a better place. That I do all I can to stop this. This time, this will not go away. We cannot and we should not want business as usual. We have awoken a sleeping giant and I for one need to change this narrative. As a daughter, a cousin, a niece, a friend, a sister. I need those people to know that this black woman’s life does matter. This isn’t all about police departments. This is systemic racism that has reared it ugly head and we need to cut it off at the neck. It’s the criminal justice system, economics, the wealth gap, the education system, and the health system. With so much work to do right here at home, I ask everyone in the department to consider some ideas to combat this so our patients and especially black patients can feel safe in their own skin and feel like our lives matter.
Five things:
- Are you willing to have regular discussions on cultural competency and health disparities?
- Are you willing to prioritize diversity in all levels of the healthcare system? Patients are more likely to adhere when they have health care providers they can relate to and trust.
- Are you willing to try to find ways to address the social determinants of health that afflict many people of color?
- Are you willing to promote health outreach to minority communities in the form of health fairs or visiting the health department? We have to meet patients at their level
- Are you willing to continue to undergo frequent and regular structured unconscious bias training?
Last year, The American College of Pediatrics identified the root cause of health problems over a lifetime, is racism. Not race itself. The disparities caused by racism. Because even after 400 years we have not made as much progress as we like to think we have. You may be saying to yourself, “oh, well you’re not a slave.” Yes we are. You may be thinking, “well black people aren’t being lynched anymore.” Yes we are, now it’s just on camera. I am proud to be black, I am proud to be an American I proud to work along all of my colleagues, I am proud to serve my patients, my country, my city, my family, my friends. And if you don’t get anything out of what I am saying, just try to think of it like this, could you survive a day in my shoes? Seeing and knowing what it’s all about? I know it can be difficult to feel what I am feeling because you can’t see this. You can’t see racism. But you feel it. It’s a comment during a lecture about a predominantly black disease, with the lecturer saying, “if they know who the father of the baby is.” It’s all too famous insensitive comment of, “you did really well, for a black person” But when I walk into a store or a patient room, I know in my heart, no matter what I have done in life, no matter how much I have accomplished, no matter how much money I have in my pocket, Its always going to come down to the color of my skin. When we don’t stand together we fall apart. This nation was built on the backs of my father, my grandparents, your grandparents, and our forefathers. And all we ask, is that we get treated as human beings. Does my life matter? I hope all my colleagues can really say from the bottom of their hearts that my life, my family’s life, and all my black brothers and sisters lives matter in this world. This has been a long time coming, and I truly believe we need to be deliberate in the steps we are taking to invoke change.