—Greg Neyman, MD, FACEP

Re: ‘Things Aren’t Always Black or White’ (January 2024)

Judging by Dr. Kendall’s piece, “Things Aren’t Always Black or White,” the state of racism in health care is troubling indeed. Assumptions about humans based on immutable characteristics like skin color used to be called racism. Now it’s championed under the banner of “antiracism.”

Rebuking emergency physicians about “white fragility” doesn’t improve emergency department boarding, understaffing or the morale of those trying to provide safe and compassionate care, especially in underserved areas.

No doubt there are many personal stories of racism, as discrimination and bias are human flaws that escape no one, regardless of skin color. “White people do not exist under a non-racist force field,” writes Dr. Kendall, but she is only partially correct—no one does. Pushing the idea that whites are hopelessly racist has no resolution, as it ensnares our society into endless racial division. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” provide a better solution.

Reducing humans to their immutable characteristics and assigning value or scorn based on these traits normalizes their dehumanization. This leads to the belief that certain humans hold more value than others—a dangerous perspective used to justify such past atrocities as forced sterilizations, the Tuskegee experiment and the Holocaust, as well as the explosion of antisemitism today.

Doctors should focus on healing all humans—regardless of skin color or any other attributes.

—Aida Cerundolo, MD