Yesterday was an exciting day for me as I had the opportunity to participate in my first healthfair since moving to Miami to start medical school. Our student organization DOCS (department of community service) puts on 6 major fairs a year in low-income areas, providing free service to thousands; additionally, other student interest groups will be asked to participate in healthfairs organized mostly by churches throughout the year. I went to the Church of the Open Door with the opthamology interest group yesterday to work the eye station, testing visual acuity, peripheral vision and intraocular pressure/cornea thickness for about sixty patients, needless to say, each one of whom was Black.
During my break I walked to the lively sign-in area where there was music playing, food served, information about the different health stations available, and interestingly enough, many booths advertising political agendas with a plethora of material to distribute. “Okay,” I thought, given the times and since people go to gun shows, anti-abortion demonstrations, and other meetings that fall within the political spectrum with information about candidates, I suppose this event is fair game too. What disturbed me however, were the large posters displayed and being handed out, which as a background had a picture of Obama, then the writing was all these facts comparing Black people’s health to White people’s health, and the conclusion was that everyone needed to rally behind Obama’s healthcare plan. More specifically, the information stated facts like: “Black babies are 2 times more likely to die before their first birthday than White Babies,” “Black women are 3 times more likely to die from breast cancer than White women,” “Black men are 1.5 times more likely to die from prostate cancer than White men,” etc. The conclusion, to reiterate, was that these folks need Obama’s plan.
Without a doubt I acknowledge that facts like these are true, though there are probably other societal factors that contribute outside the realm of healthcare. Regardless, I can’t help but wonder how it would be perceived if at an all white community event, let’s say the Burlington farmer’s market, there was an anti-government healthcare table distributing flyers that said: “White babies are half as likely to die as Black babies before their first birthday,” “White women are a third as likely to die from breast cancer as Black women,” conclusion: don’t support Obama’s plan.
Now, I’m no believer in reverse-racism, White people have had a slight head-start over Blacks in our society and these facts, no matter which way you state them, highlight the economic disparities. In fact, though it may be irrational, I’m actually comfortable with the first way those facts are phrased and uneasy with the second, and would work to distinguish myself from anyone who truly subscribed to that thought process. We would certainly agree in our opposition, but mine comes from economic arguments and a feeling that the plan will ultimately hurt those it intends to help, while I would dismiss the person with the other argument as a racist. I would also truly hope that because of these people, a few narrow minds were not convinced that everyone who is opposed to government healthcare is also a racist and targets Black people, because that would not accurately represent me.
To elaborate further on the misguidance of generalized racism, I recommend the following short video.
…giving factual information about the poor infant mortality rates and how they vary by ethnic group is not comparing black people to white people.
Without being able to see the fliers themselves, I don’t want to say more, but it sounds as though you are drawing a false equivalency here.