At this year’s celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr, which was once again organized by members of Pastoral Care, Denise Mariotti, HUP’s chief HR officer, spoke about the importance of “somebodyness.”
She said King believed we must “provide every person, no matter who they are, with a sense of hope, a sense of worth, a sense of dignity. And that resonates with what we do at HUP every day,” she said. “Let this concept of somebodyness guide how you approach your patients, the visitors, families and each other in honor of Dr. King’s memory.”
Guest speaker Dorothy Roberts, PhD, a professor of Law and Sociology at the University, spoke about beliefs dating back to the time of slavery, that a person’s race would impact disease. “They believed that something innate made black people unhealthy… not the social conditions they lived in.”
She said a published article of that era said that blacks had a lower lung capacity and that being forced to work would “vitalize their blood,” she said. “Everyone thought ‘We’re doing what nature requires.’” The social myth of a medical concept of race became a justification for racism.
The idea that a person’s race can impact disease, medicine, and even diagnosis can have significant impact. “If a provider believes a patient of a certain race cannot have a certain disease, he will rule it out,” she said. “There is no condition that belongs to a particular race… or doesn’t belong.”
A published paper by W.E.B. Dubois, one of the founders of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), supported this counter argument. “He said it was because of the social conditions they live in that they have higher rates of TB, not because of their lungs,” Roberts said. Others found that the negative effects of racial status explained the higher rates of preterm birth and maternal mortality.
“We need to confront racism in medicine – it’s still happening today. Racial bias influences practice and health of people,” she continued, adding that we should learn from others, such as social workers, legal advocates and theologians “who are trying to end structural racism.”
Also part of the celebration was a beautiful rendition of “If I Can Help Somebody” sung by chaplain extern Anthony Scott. The gospel tune embodies King’s message of reaching out. In fact, in a sermon King delivered two months before he died, he told people he wanted his legacy to be how he helped others, quoting from the song:
If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or a song.
If I can show somebody he’s traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.