It's Not Racism

Betsy McGaughey, in her column of Jan. 6, 2022 is irate that, in a few instances involving COVID, white people are no longer at the front of the line for medical services. She writes: "If you're white and middle class, the push for health care "equity" could kill you." She thinks it's racist. Well, I'm thinking it might be good for White people to not always be at the front of the line. It might encourage some empathy for Black and Brown people who have hardly ever been there. Fifty years ago, when I was in medical school, Black babies died twice as often as White babies. Today, it's exactly the same. Infant mortality now among Blacks is twice what it is among Whites. And, for almost any other health care outcome you can think of, that discrepancy continues. That, Ms. McGaughey, is what is truly racist about medical services in this country. What the CDC and other groups cited by Ms. McGaughey are doing is directing resources to where they are most needed, to people who are most vulnerable. That's not racism, it's attempting to make up for years of neglect, to make up for lost time. It's a good thing.

This op-ed appeared in The Martinsburg Journal on January 8, 2022.