Dear Listeners Were Still Learning

do you ever wish you could be a kid

again

life was so simple then school days had

scheduled nap times

homework took a maximum of two hours to

complete

and recess was the best part of the day

as a college student looking back i know

i took it all for granted

i wish i could complete my studies in

two hours now

as a kid though that homework felt like

torture

we are so impressionable and innocent at

that age

everything is so new and exciting we’re

constantly learning about the whys and

hows and absorbing the environment that

surrounds us

we start to gain an understanding of

actions and consequences with our own

experiences

for example there’s nothing like

learning the importance of making sure

your shoes are tied after tripping on

your own two feet

or learning to never touch a stove after

it’s just been turned off because it’s

still hot

each lesson tends to stick with us

because learning from our past is how we

grow as people

renowned philosopher george santayana

once wrote that

those who do not learn history are

doomed to repeat it

and this can be interpreted on a smaller

scale like learning that untied

shoelaces can

easily turn into a meeting with the

ground below you or

on a larger scale with our nation’s

history

it’s easy to forget about how important

it is to learn about our history

and it’s easy to dissociate it from who

we are today

you’ve probably heard comments like it’s

happened decades ago

or it’s old news leave it in the past it

has

nothing to do with our life today so

move on

but what if i told you that our history

actually does have a lot to do with our

life today

despite what many may think it is

threaded throughout the fabric of our

daily lives

do you know the exact moment you realize

what you look like and what that meant

before fourth grade i was the only black

girl in my small class at a

predominantly white school

as early as first grade is when i

noticed my skin wasn’t the same as my

friends and

they didn’t wear their hair in the same

twists and barrettes as i did

i understood that i looked different

from my classmates i acknowledged it but

it didn’t change anything at the time i

loved my class and i especially loved

hanging out with my friends at the after

school program

every day after class is finished a

small bus would take my six-year-old

self and my classmates to a local

after-school program

the routine was that once we got there

homework had to be done

then we could play with our friends

until our parents came

my dad would always come around six

o’clock and then my day would end with a

nice bubble bath and an early bedtime

nobody could have ever predicted that

one of those days would end

at the hospital when my mom came home

later that night and saw the hospital

bill on the table

my dad had to explain to her how i was

stabbed across my leg with adult

scissors

by a girl who was a year older than me

at the after school program

the counselor in charge left me alone

with an ice pack and towel for hours

because she couldn’t stand the sight of

blood

that alone made my dad furious and he

continued to explain to my mom that i

looked like i had lost a lot of blood

and needed stitches so

he headed to the er instead of stitches

the residents caring for me decided that

the deep eight centimeter wound can be

fixed with little surgical glue

and they sent me on my way and it never

healed properly to this day

recalling this memory actually reminded

me of an interesting study i read where

222 medical residents were surveyed in

many of these residents believe that

black or african american patients don’t

feel

pain the same way other races do because

they have less sensitive nerve endings

these residents also believe that black

patients have thicker skin and the

ability to coagulate quicker

now i’m not claiming here that the

residents that took care of me at the

time

share the same beliefs but i am a true

believer that the way we think

is mirrored in our actions so when this

way of thinking is put into medical

practice

the devastating result is that black

patients are often under treated

a separate study actually found that in

regards to pain management

22 of black patients are less likely to

receive

pain medications compared to their white

counterparts

one can deduce that those beliefs

amongst other reasons can likely be the

root of the issue

this distinct racial variation in pain

perception truly reveals a portion

of the racial disparities present in

medical practice today

although unintentional the implicit bias

can result in detrimental consequences

if a patient continues to be

under-treated

and these biases were ingrained from

centuries of misconstrued discourse

the prejudice black people don’t feel

pain rose from the early 18th century as

a poor excuse to justify slave owners

actions towards slaves

it became a disgusting coping mechanisms

for the horrors they imposed

doctors like benjamin mosley likely

inspired the work of thomas hamilton

j marion sims and many others who

pursued inhumane experiments on slaves

to test their absurd theory

that black people feel less pain might i

add without

anesthesia because quote why wasted

despite being proven wrong and wrong

again they deliberately took a blind eye

to what was in front of them

the lack of physical evidence and the

audible screams of agony

did not stop them from sharing their

so-called findings

which developed into black people feel

no pain instead of less pain with the

continued support of these physicians

publications

the practice of slave owners and

endorsements from former president

thomas jefferson himself

a triad of power and influence was born

that will emerge into future horrific

projects like

the tuskegee experiments the unjust

procurement and use of hela cells

chemical nuclear warfare testing like

the cincinnati radiation treatments

i can go on and on but i’ll save you

that earful

so as you can see although the survey

performed in 2016 only included a few

hundred medical residents

over 300 years of ingrained generational

bias from mints

has proven prevalence today history

has proven prevalence today you’re

probably wondering who this beautiful

woman is on your screen

well this is my late grandma tilly and

it was my senior year of high school

that i learned

the news about her cancer not only is

she here to offer me some moral support

but

i wanted to tell you a little bit about

her it’s a little before 7am in haiti

and my grandma wakes up to get her seven

children ready for school before she

heads out to the local high school

cafeteria

as one of the cooks she prepared meals

for the nuns and students

she’d leave around 4 p.m at the end of

each school day with an extra penny in

her pocket

that’s right literally a penny a day was

her earning after spending the entire

day on her feet for cooking for the

school mondays through fridays

and sometimes weekends but her day

wasn’t over just yet because any spare

time she had would go towards selling

goods to locals

or even washing laundry for the

neighbors at the nearby river

anything for a little extra money you

know my dad told me that she would often

go without eating or drinking anything

because she was just so

focused on what she was doing so he

tried to bring her some water while she

worked

she was more worried about providing for

her children rather than herself

and in the words of donna summer she

worked hard

for that money and for her family who

grew up to lead amazing lives

this word right here lazy is not

one that i would use to describe grandma

tilly i’d use

strong resilient selfless a fighter

she was a hard worker and this is just

one story at a million so

when i hear individuals say black people

are lazy i can’t help but be

baffled by what i’m hearing every

stereotype has its origin but there’s no

single answer as to where this

particular prejudice came from

personally though when i do hear this

stereotype is usually directed towards

unemployed black or african american

individuals that live in low-income

areas do you recognize this area

well it’s our city philly this is

philadelphia’s residential security map

created by the holc back

in 1933 as a result of former president

fdr’s new deal

you may recognize this from middle

school history class when you are

learning about redlining and selective

lending

with white flight into the suburbs

realtors would exclusively show houses

to black buyers in the red areas that

were deemed hazardous

skin color alone was enough reason for

lenders to deny black families home

ownership on

other properties out of curiosity i

wanted to see what the city

looks like now compared to them because

i don’t know if you’ve experienced this

before but

anytime i drive outside of west

philadelphia to a nearby suburban area

i can visually tell that i’m in another

town

so this is a regular google map of

philadelphia today

about 90 years after fdr’s new deal

subsequent white flight and continually

denying african americans equal

opportunities

this demographic is the result there is

a clear shift in the white population

outside of the city and a large

population of minorities within

city lines the same trend holds true

when evaluating low income and

unemployment rates

looking at this one can’t help but

wonder how this was able to progress

so far and why throughout these 90 years

change

was limited when individuals observe

this phenomenon and don’t understand the

history that caused it

stereotypes like black people are lazy

arise which is

inaccurate again this demonstrates the

imprint

history has on our society today but it

doesn’t have to be permanent

with every car ride my dad’s favorite

station npr news would be playing and

usually i would try to ignore it and

listen to my own music but there was one

segment called

the forgotten history of how the us

government segregated america playing

where richard rossby was being

interviewed and

i was intrigued to turn off my

headphones and hear what he had to say

mr rodstein was asked about his views in

race on america

after his extensive research on

segregation and housing

and his response was simply hopeful

hopeful that if we could understand the

history we

might be able to address some of these

problems

i wish at that moment that everyone

could hear this because i realized that

change would require a collective effort

i thought to myself i’m just one person

so i brushed it off

put my headphones back in and enjoyed

the rest of the car ride

since then rodstein’s words have always

echoed in the back of my mind

growing up i faced a number of trials

and tribulations

many of which have gone without

consequence

i became accustomed to the adversity and

grew tired of the constant battles

it wasn’t until freshman year though of

college

that i finally said enough is enough

do you remember the 2018 super bowl of

course you do the eagles won

in the city of philadelphia was on fire

quite literally

everybody was celebrating whether you

liked football or

not and center city was packed and even

my

university had to shut down for a day i

lived in the dorms at the time and it

was almost impossible to get any sleep

that night

when i woke up the next morning glad

that i was able to sleep in with classes

being canceled

my friend pointed out the n-word with

the hard r was written on my dorm room’s

whiteboard

i was furious not necessarily because of

the label as i’ve been directly called

this many times before but

mainly because i couldn’t comprehend the

amount of hate someone must have to go

out of their way to target me

anonymously

this individual or group of individuals

felt the need

to find the only black girl that lived

on this floor of the building

and do this amidst the chaos of the

super bowl celebrations

therefore finding the culprit was

difficult and yet again

another incident went without

consequences and i was

done accepting that if this couldn’t be

solved i was going to prevent it from

ever happening again to me or another

colleague on this campus

mr rossie’s words came rushing back and

i knew now

that although change requires a

collective effort

it only takes one person to initiate

that change

from this ace week was born knowledge is

a

powerful tool and like i said earlier

the way that we think is reflected in

our actions

i thought that maybe if i could create a

week full of events dedicated to

educating each other about

our history culture and the importance

of awareness

then maybe i could spark new

perspectives to develop and help prevent

any more harmful action from being

committed at least on this campus

i began my research collecting ideas and

resources from other colleges i have

similar programs

gathering advice from friends and

families and

gaining the support of campus faculty

and staff

eventually ace week was launched in 2019

its events included decorating the

campus with flags of countries from

around the world

speaker sessions discussing diversity in

religion health care

leadership and more dance performances

an art showcase

and even a banner was hung up that

contains signatures from students and

faculty

showing their commitment to learning

about and spreading cultural awareness

my goal was to make this an annual event

that will grow bigger each year

due to the pandemic 2020’s ace week had

to be virtual but despite the

limitations i hope

it still made an impact dear listeners

it’s so important now more than ever to

acknowledge that we are still learning

our history is a key component to how

our society is structured today

so it doesn’t matter if it’s happened

centuries

decades or just a couple years ago it

cannot

be ignored all stereotypes and

prejudices have a complex origin that’s

developed into influential constructs

beyond the few examples i provided

as science students and future health

care professionals have you ever

wondered why

most studies or guidelines have a

smaller sample of minorities

yet expect the limited data to represent

all patients within that ethnic

population when deciding the best

treatment there’s history there or

have you ever wondered why in 2019 black

women were one and a half times more

likely to be sent home from work because

of their natural hair

there’s history there many viewed

natural hair

as unkempt and it was grounds enough to

be denied entrance to work or school

even this past year in 2020 we have gone

through a lot

as a nation amidst the news being

reported on the pandemic

there were nationwide protests against

police brutality

have you ever wondered why in 2020

despite black or african american

citizens making up

only 13 of the population that 28

percent of the 1127

cases of police killings were black

citizens

well there’s history there too

when questioning today’s social

constructs the answer can usually be

found by looking in the past we still

have a very long way to go as a country

but the future is brave

there’s beauty in our diversity and

power

in our unity if we put all our

differences aside and come together to

understand

more about one another and become more

culturally aware

we can move mountains we all have the

potential to make a difference

there’s a spark within every single one

of you that has the ability to start a

fire or cascade of change

i applaud you because you have already

taken that first step to sparing some

time out of your day to come listen to

this

talk what will you do with the

information you’ve learned about the

harsh realities we face

although i may mainly focus on one

ethnic group during this speech

there are so many more areas regarding

other ethnic groups religions and gender

to unravel

if the past was able to influence

instruction the way we are today

we have the tools to influence and

structure a better future

we have made tremendous progress but it

is not enough

therefore i challenge you to look deep

within yourself

find your spark and use it you don’t

have to create an a-suite but

maybe you can bring this discussion with

you to the next family dinner or

friend hangout start the conversation

and keep an open mind

let’s start to embrace one another let’s

break the cycle of history repeating

itself

and move forward together thank you for

listening