Unintended Discrimination In Ben Carson's Gifted Hands

Bigotry towards individuals of a certain background can be expressed through hostility or microaggressions. Threats and physical intimidation are easy to identify as intentionally harmful however microaggressions are more common and demonstrate ignorance more so than hatred for a group. Nevertheless, both marginalize people based on their differences and rely on preconceptions to highlight those differences. Gifted Hands, an autobiography by Ben Carson, provides an example of how one man’s race determined how people would view him and would attempt to invalidate his credentials as a brilliant neurosurgeon. By looking at Ben Carson’s experiences with others, one can see how society tends to make assumptions based on race. In Gifted Hands, …show more content…
When Ben Carson first began his internship, the nurses at Johns Hopkins had expected him to be nothing more than an orderly. After having been corrected, they were immediately embarrassed and couldn’t think of a proper explanation as to why they’d assumed him to not be in a higher position (115). Though the nurses didn’t mean to offend him and had visibly felt ashamed, the underlying reason for their surprise is prejudice. Their beliefs have them jump to the conclusion that a black male would never be intelligent enough to have an important job at their hospital. Besides the nurses, there were other people that believed he couldn’t possibly be as good as other doctors. Many of Ben Carson’s potential patients turned him down simply because he was black, or at the very least felt trepidation asking for his service, and saw him as a last resort (116). People didn’t want him to operate on them or their loved ones for fear he’d make more mistakes than a white man doing the surgery, even though he and other doctors have the same qualifications. This reveals how society expects less of African Americans than white men, and how it takes time for longstanding belief systems to be deconstructed and built