OPINION
DOCTORS' Lounge
(continued from page 27)
other three siblings had helped to trans-
form the place from a subpar school to a
modern magnet with much higher educa-
tional standards, a school that partners with
museums all over the city and far away to
set alight the child’s ambition, success and
self-respect. The exhibit at that time was
“We Shall Overcome,” a multitude of black-
and-white photographs of Nashville and her
people during the Civil Rights struggles.
That got Dr. Churchwell talking about the
private, half-day tour he had arranged for
multiple Vanderbilt dignitaries, officers and
trustees when the new National Museum
of African-American History and Culture
had opened in Washington, DC. He pointed
out that some of the attendees were utterly
shocked to see the evidence of lynchings,
the ruinous lives and deaths of slaves and
sharecroppers, the endless brutality of the
KKK.
He said to us, “They didn’t know about
it. “
“They stood there and some of them
cried. They stood there and were just in
shock.”
That floored me. How could educated
people close to and of my generation not
know about slavery and civil rights? Where
did that complete unawareness come from?
And then I remembered that I was once
again making the mistake of assuming that
what is important to me is important to
many other people. What I believe to be vital
knowledge of our country and our culture is
immaterial to others. What they have been
taught and what they experience growing
up is different from what happened to me.
They may have grown up in a culture that
assumed the superiority in all things of peo-
ple who were born white. They may never
have, somewhere inside, actually questioned
or protested that culture.
The beliefs they held about their country
had to be violently unlearned. The assump-
tions I made about the extent of progress
our educational institutions have made in
matters of racial equality, I must unlearn
also. I believe that racism is very much alive
and is a clear and present danger to people
of color in America every day. As physicians,
we are trained to see the person in front of
us without prejudice of any kind. As human
beings, we are full of many and competing
prejudices that threaten our ability to care
for others.
We may privately discount their char-
acter if they smoke or drink or take drugs;
we may inwardly chastise them for hurting
their health in a multitude of ways, for not
following advice, or for simply showing up
late. But with our stethoscopes on or off, we
must try to understand all with kindness.
We have to root out and define our own
assumptions, to unlearn what we unthink-
ingly learned in the past. Self-awareness
here means confronting those assumptions
wherever they may appear.
Naivete’ is a fact of life, but not a defense
of asking too few questions.
Dr. Barry practices Internal Medicine with
Norton Community Medical Associates-Bar-
ret. She is a clinical associate professor at the
University of Louisville School of Medicine,
Department of Medicine.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING Say
Something
Timir Banerjee, MD
W
hen Kronos wanted to
become the king of the
Titans, he married his
sister Rhea and cut off
the testicles of his father
Uranus with a sickle, and then swallowed
his children because it was prophesied
that he would meet similar fate. I believe
then he had peace, or at least that’s how
the story goes. He carried on until his son,
Zeus, removed his appurtenances and dis-
lodged him from his position of power. The
foam from the spilled blood of Uranus in
the ocean created the beautiful Aphrodite.
Fortunately today, the sense of morality and
ways of gaining power are a bit different.
28
LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
Although, there have been times when I
have felt that my feelings of frustration have
ballooned so that I desire orgiastic worship
of Cybele so she will to change the world
my way.
I have recited Lord Byron’s “Venice,” par-
ticularly “watering the heart whose early
flowers have died and with a fresher growth
replenishing the void.”
I just received a certificate from the Ken-
tucky Medical Association recognizing 50
years of service as a physician. I took this as
an opportunity to reminisce about my long
practice. I have recognized that writing is
a great cathartic. It’s certainly a better way
to vent my feelings as opposed to peaceful
demonstration or protest; these days, there
is invariably looting, stealing, and car or flag
burning accompanying “peaceful” protests.
I will share some ideas about the changes
in medicine, and how care is delivered these
days to the public at times.
I grew up as a child watching Mahatma
Gandhi march, listening to the radio about
newsworthy events, then reading about
them in the newspaper the following day.
We did not have a TV. My first exposure to
medicine was watching my grandfather, a
village doctor in India. He delivered babies,
sutured wounds, gave injections and didn’t