You're Underestimating.

The beginning of that sentence is: If you think you know how bad racism in this country is... you're underestimating.

Around two years ago, I got shingles.  I didn't know it was shingles.  It started with a weird pain in one of my teeth.  I've never had a cavity, but I imagined that maybe I had one then.  So I went to a dentist.  By the time I got there, which was maybe a day or so after the tooth pain started, I also had a small rash on one side of my face.  The dentist took a look, couldn't find a cavity, or any other dental problem, noted the rash, and told me he thought I had trigeminal neuralgia.  It could have been that (although less likely with the rash), and he said I should see an oral surgeon he knew.  I didn't know what the oral surgeon was supposed to do, but the tooth pain, and the rash, were getting worse, and I got a quick appointment with the oral surgeon.  The surgeon walked into the exam room, took one look at me with my mask off, and told me immediately that 1) I had shingles, and 2) he didn't treat shingles.  The oral surgeon's office happened to be on the extended grounds of Aventura Hospital, and I know a neurologist there, so I called that office.  It would be a couple of weeks before I could get an appointment, and I felt as if I couldn't wait.  So I called an internist I know.  I told him someone else had diagnosed shingles, and asked him what to do.  He told me over the phone what antiviral I needed, what the dose was, how long to take it, and when to expect results.  So I got myself a prescription for the antiviral, took it as directed by my internist friend, and got precisely the desired result, right on time.  End of shingles in less than two weeks.

When my then wife, and our two very young children, moved to Miami Beach in 1983, we hired a woman, I think from Trinidad (you know -- black), to take care of the kids and do errands, so we could work.  I've very loosely kept up with her over the years, and even saw her once a few years ago.  She's elderly and generally not doing well, but she calls me every once in a very long while.  The last time was yesterday.  She's doing worse than before, but the most prominent problem is great pain and a rash from one of her hips extending down the lower extremity on that side.  She saw some doctor in Broward, possibly even at Memorial Medical Center, which generally has a good reputation, and they diagnosed shingles, and told her to... do nothing.  Just wait for it to get better, (if it was going to).  Which it hasn't at all.

Well, I've been there myself, and I even have some pills left over.  It was possible that the woman's adult daughter, who I think lives with her, might come to my house, and take the pills I'll never use, but it turned out easier just for me to call in a prescription, which I did.  And I told her she needed a better doctor, and recommended my friend who told me about the treatment for shingles.  I sort of apologized for the extent of racism in this country, but she told me it's world-wide.  I know she's right.

There are loads of stories like this.  Loads.  Some are very dramatic, like civilians and even police who assassinate black people for being black, and some are less dramatic, like Americans making the lives of black people more difficult than there's any reason they should be.  (These are people who were kidnapped from Africa, forced to come here, sold into miserable slavery, and persistently mistreated even after we outlawed slavery.  And we still want to make their lives difficult.  If you wonder when we'll have had enough of this, I have no idea.)

There are even medical manifestations of mistreating black people.  There's the woman I've known for 40 years, and the tendency to undertreat pain in black people (documented).  One study was of matched black women and Caucasian women who gave birth.  Even among the black women who were professionals, various kinds of outcomes were worse in the black women.  The stress of racism takes a subtle and pervasive toll.

Studies have shown that patterns of psychiatric diagnosing are different depending on the race of the patient.

Every facet of life, certainly in this country, is corrupted by racism.  We seem unable to stop ourselves.  Examinations of laws passed and penalties applied show evidence that where behavior is considered more common in black populations, laws and the penalties for breaking them are harsher than for the same behavior in populations that are more likely Caucasian.  One then famous example from 20-30 years ago was the application of harsher sentencing for use of "crack" cocaine than for use of powdered cocaine, because it was thought blacks more commonly used "crack" cocaine.

But I was more surprised by my old employee and friend, and her experience with shingles.  When I had shingles, I got prompt and effective attention.  When she developed shingles, even the people supposedly treating her didn't care.  Couldn't be bothered.  Were content to let her suffer, even though there is very effective treatment available.  I heard from her and her daughter today, and she's taken her first pill.  I hope I get a happy report by the end of next week.