Summary: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/14/a-black-doctor-wanted-to-save-a-mans-life-first-she-had-to-convince-the-flight-attendant-she-was-an-actual-physician/#comments A blog post written by Carolyn Johnson, “The disturbing reason why we don’t believe young black women are really doctors”, makes an important claim in today’s society. Johnson tells the story of a young black woman names Tamika Cross and her experiences in society as a young, black, female doctor. While she was on a flight, a man fell ill on flight, she raised her hand to help. She was quickly dismissed by the flight attendant, who told her that she wasn’t an “actual nurse”, even though Cross was a fourth-year resident of a medical school in Texas. All doctors on board were told to press their call buttons, and
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Although this has become second-nature for Cross, she chose to make her story public because the racial bias held by the flight attendant threatened the man’s life. If she was the only doctor, the patient might have been in serious condition before she could pass the checking done by the attendant. Johnson states that this isn’t just a issue for African Americans, but also negatively affects a majority of women doctors. This discrimination is known as “implicit bias”, which is a type of unconscious thinking that many people let to steer their decision making when faced with certain situations. There are many psychological tests whose results show that a vast majority of people have an implicit bias against female doctors. When a black woman states that she is a doctor, people struggle to understand what seems to be false in the light of their bias. This is different from a white male who claims to be a doctor—most people give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he must be correct. claim to be a doctor because he is given the “benefit of the doubt”. The author then mentions how these biases play a critical role in politics and the debates
Although this has become second-nature for Cross, she chose to make her story public because the racial bias held by the flight attendant threatened the man’s life. If she was the only doctor, the patient might have been in serious condition before she could pass the checking done by the attendant. Johnson states that this isn’t just a issue for African Americans, but also negatively affects a majority of women doctors. This discrimination is known as “implicit bias”, which is a type of unconscious thinking that many people let to steer their decision making when faced with certain situations. There are many psychological tests whose results show that a vast majority of people have an implicit bias against female doctors. When a black woman states that she is a doctor, people struggle to understand what seems to be false in the light of their bias. This is different from a white male who claims to be a doctor—most people give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he must be correct. claim to be a doctor because he is given the “benefit of the doubt”. The author then mentions how these biases play a critical role in politics and the debates