DOCTORS ' LOUNGE
( continued from page 33 ) routine medical procedures than are whites . Sadly , the will to affect the recommended changes proffered by these two reports has been found wanting at the national , state and local levels .
To those who feign surprise at how badly Blacks have fared with COVID-19 , I must ask : how could we expect anything else ? The combination of living in areas of high housing density , the increased likelihood of having a low pay and high risk job , higher rates of incarceration , limited access to healthy foods , limited access to health care , poor or no insurance , limited transportation , living in areas of higher air pollution and increased rates of poverty : all tell the tale .
We are physicians , but we are also citizens and community members first . Our truth is that we try to make the sick better , and to keep the healthy well , no matter their color , orientation , sex or religion . Our narrative should not be coerced , obfuscated , shaded or altered to fit into narrow philosophies of exclusion and self-righteousness that serve to exclude and do not offer solutions .
Racial and ethnic health disparities often derive from structural racism . Structural racism is real and is kept alive by those who spew the detritus of centuries of hatred and failed attempts at denying humanity , attempting to justify the subjugation of one group of people by another . My colleague ’ s response begs the question , are those who have benefited from the privileges and opportunities afforded by their whiteness so blind to the troubles and struggles of those not so endowed ?
To answer the question posited by my colleague in the title of his piece , yes , the truth matters , but sir , your “ truth ” is not true . Your truth will not stand the test of time and in the end it will prove to be inconsequential .
To say that the health status of Blacks is the consequence of a coordinated effort would , perhaps , give too much credit to any one engineer . Rather , I believe that this is the fruition of a series of events that have been allowed to progress and be justified by the writings and actions of people such as my colleague . There are so many things on which we can all agree , let us put this matter to rest and address the root causes of our problems before all our trees die .
Wayne B . Tuckson , MD
Resources
1
Rogers . Race and the Politics of Polio Warm Springs , Tuskegee , and the March of Dimes . Am J Public Health . 2007
2
Report of the Secretary ' s Task Force On Black and Minority Health . US Department of Health and Human Services . Superintendent of Documents , U . S . Government Printing Office
3
Unequal Treatment : Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare . Institute of Medicine of the National Academies . The National Acadamies Press . Washington , DC 2003
4
Yancy . COVID-19 and African Americans . JAMA 2020
5
Why Air Pollution is Linked to Severe Cases of COVID-19 . Paul Costello . SCOPE a publication of Stanford Medicine
6
Covid-19 and Disparities in Nutrition and Obesity . Belanger , MJ . Hill , MA , et al . N Engl J Med 2020
COVID-19 Graphic Resources
Visit glms . org / exposure-chart / to download for use . Please feel free to print and post in your practice , hand out to patients or use on your website / social media .
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