Being Black in the eyes of Medical Professionals during a Pandemic

The third wave of this pandemic is approaching fast even as we are currently in the second wave. Black and brown people have always suffered in the medical field since it is another form of systemic racism. We have historically been prevented from having fair opportunities for economic, physical, and even emotional health for reasons unknown. It shouldn't matter if we are low income, don't have good insurance or even live in bad areas. We deserve our fair share of health benefits just like anybody else. Now, with Covid-19, we are still disadvantaged because we may not be able to take off work to go get tested thus causing symptoms to become deadly. We may not be able to get tested because we don't live near testing sites. These are just small reasons and yet they make a huge difference in how we are treated during this pandemic. I guarantee when a vaccine is available, they are going to administer it first into black communities to be Guinea pigs because that's what they see us as. Test subjects for their benefit. They don't care if we die at rapid rates as long they get data and results.

Racism in the medical field isn't a huge secret. We see black women die in child birth because a doctor didn't understand that something was wrong with her or even the baby before it was too late. We voice our concerns about an ache or sudden pain but our doctors dismiss it for something common like stress or anxiety when it could actually be life-threatening. It's disheartening that we die at rapid rates because people in the medical field do not take us seriously. It's sad that we are still being discriminated at every turn and I hope it changes for the better because we matter, our lives matter.