These are the Ways Black Lives Matter and White People Care

“Black Lives Matter.” I couldn’t agree more. I am a white, Italian-American, and I totally support “Black Lives Matter.”

Now, of course, so many people hear, “Black Lives Matter” and retort, “All Lives Matter.” I’m a surgeon, so of course all lives matter to me. I know that. I live that everyday. In this World Series time of year, I can remind you that while a 0.350 batting average would be a ballplayer’s dream, a 35 percent success rate at saving lives would be a surgeon’s worst nightmare. So frankly, when someone answers, “All Lives Matter,” I am beyond frustrated – I am outraged.

Why the strong sentiment? The fact that someone needs to rebut “Black Lives Matter” with  “All Lives Matter” means that the big picture is being missed. No one is saying, “Black Lives Matter … more than other lives,” or “Black Lives Matter … other lives do not.”

“Black Lives Matter” should heighten our awareness to the fact that, in this day and age, in a country that in my opinion is still the greatest country in the world, we still have a huge number of people who feel disenfranchised.

“Black Lives Matter” Mean All of Us

And it’s not just black people – this three-word phrase is a reminder to all of us that there are many groups who still are outsiders inside our country – women, Latino-Americans, Native Americans, Middle Eastern immigrants, and Asians – and the list goes on. (By the way, I am using “black” as opposed to African-American to stay with the phrase “Black Lives Matter.”)

The disenfranchisement goes beyond race and ethnicity – we have religious minorities, economic minorities, educational minorities, gender-identity minorities, disabled-person minorities,  and others that are too numerous to mention. “Black Lives Matter” is a wake-up call to recognize and reconcile the discrepancies and disparities that clearly exist.

Medical Practitioners Usually Look Beyond Differences

I love being a surgeon. I care about each individual life – race, ethnicity, religion, gender do not matter unless they are in some way apropos to the patient’s symptoms (e.g., I don’t worry about prostate cancer in a woman).

This is an approach shared by my fellow medical practitioners. Take a look at “Meet the Baby Who Was Born Twice”, in which a baby still in utero undergoes surgery to remove a life threatening tumor, then is placed back in the uterus and delivered months later.

Of course, all lives matter. We look beyond the factors that somehow, in other walks of life, continue to be stumbling blocks for our society. These are the stumbling blocks that are illuminated by “Black Lives Matter.”

And in medicine, we are not immune. Take a look at “Doctors Have Little Guidance On What To Do With Racist Patients”, and you can see that racism does find its way into the hospital and the office exam room. In the last couple of years I have had a patient transfer to me from one of my associates because my associate is Indian. Let me be more clear – he is Indian-American, born in the Midwest of parents who were also born in the Midwest. His grandparents are from India, just as mine are from Italy. Yet, this patient did not want to have anything to do with him because, “He is Indian, and I don’t like Indian people.” Taking a line from an ESPN segment – “C’mon, man!”

This is the reality we find ourselves in. We have disenfranchised segments of the United States population. “Black Lives Matter” should be a reminder that there is an ugly history of people being treated without dignity, people being held down, people being ostracized within their own communities. Of course, I hear the argument against, “All Lives Matter,” supported by the fact that many groups have paid their dues – Irish and Italian Immigrants, Jewish people, and Southeast Asian refugees. Those situations weren’t right, either. Those situations do not negate the importance of  “Black Lives Matter” – they reinforce it.

Outrageous Disparities, Then and Now

We know that there are wealth and asset discrepancies based on race. In 2015, 24% of black people and 21% of Hispanic people were at or below the poverty level, versus 9% of white people. There are wage discrepancies based on gender, with women noted to make 80% of the pay their male counterparts make for similar positions. Educational disparities abound as evidenced by access to educational services, suspension rates, and resultant test results. Frankly, these statistics should be a source of consternation and outrage for our country.

I grew up in family with a strong work ethic. As an Italian-American, I came from a background of immigrant grandparents who worked in sweatshops. My father grew up without a father himself, and he will attest to the fact that they lived in a slum, what he refers to as the Italian ghetto. He made it through high school, barely, and then worked as a carpenter.

I grew up with this blue-collar mentality. There were times when we had no income when strikes occurred. I worked construction and in hospitals to pay for medical school while my father worked two and three jobs to support me as well. I know there were times when I was discriminated against because I was Italian, or because I was from a blue-collar background, or both.

I am not apologetic to be a white, Italian-American, but I also realize that there are so many people, particularly but not exclusively racial and gender minorities, who face a much tougher battle. In fact, I firmly subscribe to my belief, “White People Care,” and do my best to pay it forward. I have taken minority students under my wing to try to help them work through the discrimination that I fear they may encounter. I want to give them the opportunities that this great country allowed me to have.

Giving Back

Last year, I was buying some equipment for my office at Staples. The salesperson, a young Hispanic man, noted from my office card that I was a doctor. He told me he was a premed student. I offered to have him shadow me, and he spent parts of the next six months in the operating room with me to see what it is like to be surgeon. This past year, one of my patients, a young woman from Ghana, told me she was a premed student and asked if I ever let people shadow me in the office. She spent six months seeing patients with me during my office sessions. I am committed to doing my part to resolve the disparities that we see.

This week, I saw a patient from the Middle East. I was examining him and making conversation, so I asked where he was from. He told me he was from Egypt and then quickly added, “But I am Christian.” It was an interesting statement. I had the sense that he felt I would think differently of him if he were Muslim. Of course I would not, but I was quickly reminded of something I felt very strongly about. I never want to make someone feel uncomfortable about his or her race, ethnicity, gender, etc. I work with people and have friends from all different groups – LGBTQ, black, Hispanic, Muslim, disabled, etc. I am distraught at the fact that, in this day and age, people can let prejudice influence (dare I say color) their thought processes.

Transcending Labels

In the 1973 Sci-fi film Soylent Green, there were women who came with apartments as part of “the furniture.” Now I now this is a stretch, but that movie comes to mind when I see how some groups in our society feel so devalued and disenfranchised. We have a woman running for president for the first time, while other countries have already had female leaders. We have just had our first black president. Every time I hear first African-American coach, or first female CEO of a given company, I ask why this hasn’t happened sooner. I also ask when we will be able to get beyond labels, when equality will truly occur so that such labels do not need to define us.

I heard a segment on the BBC in which a female African-American athlete stated that she wanted to be known as a great athlete, not just a great black athlete. Her point was well taken. The segment was talking about African-American firsts (first gold medals, first individual all around gold medals, etc.) in gymnastics. Unfortunately, until we reconcile the aforementioned disparities, such “firsts” will continue to be noteworthy.

People of all races, ethnicities, religions, genders, and abilities have built this country. We have been the beacon of hope for refugees, political and religious outcasts, and people who continue to view us as the land of opportunity. Within the last year, I have provided medical care for Iraqi refugees who have escaped unimaginable horrors, people who see America as the same land of promise that my grandparents did.

Yet, there is still talk of building walls, of excluding groups from entering our country, of deporting immigrants. We still see mistreatment of fellow citizens based on gender, race, and sexual orientation. What happened to celebrating diversity? What happened to our pride in Emma Lazarus’ Sonnet, “New Colossus,” the lines of which sit at the feet of the Statue of Liberty?

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

I do subscribe to the “It Takes A Village” mentality, a village of all kinds of people, a village that flourishes because of its diversity, because of the talents and skills they all bring. It is time to reconcile our differences. It is time to rise above our differences and truly strive for equality. America is great, but we can be even greater — not by keeping people down, but by building them up. We have to break down the barriers, destroy the discrepancies, and bridge the gaps.

Yes, Black Lives Matter. And yes, White People Care.

 

Arthur M. Lauretano, MD, MS, FACS

October 30, 2016

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