“As long as our medical school faculties have little more than token representation from many sectors of the richly diverse American culture, and as long as faculty advancement, for whatever reason, is grossly distorted by race and ethnicity, the medical profession cannot truly lay claim to the ethical and moral high ground it professes to occupy.”
White people are over-represented in healthcare professions, so they must be part of the solution to addressing racism within medicine, erasing health disparities, and eliminating barriers to people of color in healthcare. One of the first places to start is self-reflection and education. Asking colleagues of color to educate us results in an increased diversity tax on them. This page contains a multitude of resources to begin your journey addressing white supremacy and institutionalized racism. Since this is a topic that has been extensively studied and written about, necessarily this is just a small collection of resources.
What does minority tax/diversity tax mean?
The "minority tax" or "diversity tax" is the burden of extra responsibilities placed on minority faculty in the name of diversity. Some examples are asking non-white faculty to be in charge of diversity efforts (assuming they are interested), to mentor other people of color, explain race and racism to colleagues, or do other uncompensated work that typically doesn't lead to promotion or tenure. You can read more about how it plays out in academic medicine here.
Getting Started
If you are just starting on this journey, these are some excellent resources to help you on your way:
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Common Patterns of Well-Intentioned White People (Chapter 12 of Robin DiAngelo’s book What Does It Mean to be White?)
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts
What is White Privilege, Really? webinar from Teaching Tolerance
Black and Blue: The Origins and Consequences of Medical Racism by John Hoberman
