Are other jobs (waiter, pizza delivery boy etc.) as important to a person's well being as a physician? Do these jobs require the same skills, talents, and education? Is there a shortage of black/hispanic waiters/delivery boys? Is there peer reviewed evidence that suggests that black/hispanic delivery boys will be better at doing their job when serving their own races?
Flat out, it is not "subjective" feelings - there is evidence that suggests URM physicians do serve URM communities and their outcomes tend to be better - prominently in a primary care setting. You will not find a universal answer to this - there is a lot of context and nuance involved in AA in the medical world. You cannot create a sweeping generalization for every career out there. If that's what you are looking for, you will not find it.
Ask yourself
why like-colored physicians perform better and provide better treatment to their patients. Is it because they have the same color skin? No. It's a combination of two things:
1. Cultural competency. The color of the physician's skin has unwillingly forced him to be categorized in a specific group of people (e.g. Blacks). This experience has shaped the way he has lived and experienced his life, largely as a result of public/social perception. Non-Black individuals simply cannot empathize with Black people on the same level as other Black individuals can, and there is some value in this. The same goes for every other race living here in America - we like to feel connected to those we impart our trust in.
2. The patient feels more comfortable communicating & interacting with someone who is like them. More trust, better communication, more honesty - all of these things equate to better health outcomes for obvious reasons. However, these are a result of subjective feelings in the patient. This is all about subjective comfort with one's physician.
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The problem is, I don't believe these two reasons should be dictating who provides medical care, and, ultimately how medical admissions are determined. A few things:
A. #1 isn't required for medical care. Sure it helps to understand where someone is coming from, but it isn't necessary, it just isn't. (We could argue this point all day, so I am purposely leaving it short).
B. #2 is a failing of the patient. I understand - I really do - that some people may have a very good reason not to trust certain races of people, but we need to start looking to the future. My generation does not have the same justification for hating/distrusting other races as those generations ago did (e.g. derived from slavery, Tuskegee, etc...). I grew up in public schools my entire life in a "not-so-great" town and Blacks, Mexicans, Whites, Asians - all got along decently in school. Sure, everyone had their "clicks" but some of my best friends growing up were not the same race as me. We need to be the change we hope to see in the world. If we want to live in a country where every race is considered equal, we shouldn't be implementing/supporting policies that say and encourage the complete opposite.
Look around. We're in 2015 - everyone sits on the bus together, there aren't separate restrooms and water fountains, segregation is a choice now, not a requirement. We need to make up our minds - treat everyone as equals, or don't. We can't have both. Either allow one-race care facilities or get rid of this nonsense.
C. (Ties in with my first point). The moment you become an individual that graduates from medical school with a doctorate, you're no longer in a category of people that can truly empathize with the majority of your poverty-stricken, homeless, chronically sick patients. I don't care if you're Black/White/Asian/Mexican - the patient will never truly connect with you because you're a "rich doctor." To pretend otherwise is delusional.
D. Last, not all physicians are involved directly in patient care (or even interact with patients at all). You said yourself this is primarily referring to family medicine. Perhaps we should pursue this route further and consider giving these boosts to admissions only to certain / guaranteed specialties, such as the accelerated family medicine tracks.
My issue with this entire topic is that people are arguing for the fact that affirmative action exists at the college and professional school level as though there is no reason for it. But why not instead take a step back and try and understand why it's needed in the first place? Yes, we want a more diverse class for a more diverse physician population in which many will go back and serve those underserved and underrepresented communities (that they may or may not have come from).
I understand the reasoning that supports AA. The problem is, we're trying to fix a problem using unethical means to expedite the process. You want equality? Start supporting systems that treat people equally.
Clarence Thomas (a Black Supreme Court justice) understood this in his
Grutter v. Bollinger dissent.
Frederick Douglas understood this as evident in his speech
What a Black Man Wants, "The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us... I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us....And if the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone!...your interference is doing him positive injury."
Obviously no one is saying that every single URM is born in unfair conditions but a GREAT number of them are. Way more than white or Asian populations. And there are FAR more black/Hispanic communities out there that don't get the best health care.
Actually the number of Whites far surpass the number of URMs "born in unfair conditions." URMs may have a greater percentage born into this category, but when looking at sheer numbers Whites win hands-down.
But you're not going to argue for that issue, because it's not your concern, is it? It doesn't affect you until these URM's start taking your spot in medical school.
I got in a while ago, this has nothing to do with URMs taking my spot. This is about the ethics.
And what do you mean, this URM "stole" a spot from someone else? Can you point me to some studies that show that URM's coming in with not the best stats turned out to be really terrible physicians ten years down the line? Because if that turns out to be a thing then no I won't support it. But if a medical student, regardless of what race they are, becomes a good physician, then how can you say they "stole" that spot? Isn't the whole point of choosing a class of students to create the best physicians possible that meets the goals of the school and needs of the community?
Go look at the infamous graphs man. The prevailing logic is, if you were to take away distinguishing race from the application process, the results would be much different.
Would you look at every Hispanic and black physician and be inclined to believe that they stole a spot in their medical class from someone else? Because that would honestly be pretty terrible. (I mean that's basically what you're saying anyway.)
It's sad, but true. Many people (whether you want to believe it or not) do view URMs in medical school and perpetually wonder if they were really good enough to make the cut. I've met URMs who got in with a 35+ and 4.0, and I've also met some who got in with <25 and <3.0. The fact of the matter is, the
large majority of URMs deserve to be in the class.
Unfortunately, the current system casts doubt in everyone's mind whether that URM really would've made it without the color of their skin bumping them up a notch. It robs the common, hardworking, deserving URM medical student of the dignity and respect that they deserve. This mindset doesn't end in medical school, I've worked in the hospital setting for quite some time and these racially-charged prejudices are pervasive everywhere - staff, nurses, physicians,
patients, students - everyone. It's sad.
Do you know the best way to break free of these prejudices? Start treating everyone like equals. Right now URMs are being treated unequally (in their favor) and expect to be treated as equals, it's really a ridiculous expectation. But, until you start supporting a system that doesn't favor race, don't expect to be treated fairly and perceived as equals.
(And the whole "black on black" crime...just stop. That kind of crime is not racially charged like white on black OR black on white crime is. Or Hispanic on Asian, or Asian on Black, or white on Native American, or WHATEVER. You're trying to lump crimes as being the same when the motives are different. Wtf.)
Why are you automatically assuming all crime that happens between two people of different races is racially charged? Are you kidding me? Have you ever thought that their disagreement, you know, was derived from something other than race? This is the kind of BS that really gets on my nerves, you should be ashamed of yourself.