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