{"id":9678,"date":"2020-05-31T18:39:21","date_gmt":"2020-05-31T22:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/?p=9678"},"modified":"2020-05-31T20:39:02","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T00:39:02","slug":"america-the-not-so-beautiful-right-now-with-a-must-read-book-suggestion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/america-the-not-so-beautiful-right-now-with-a-must-read-book-suggestion\/2020\/05\/31\/","title":{"rendered":"America the Not So Beautiful Right Now, with a Must-Read Book Suggestion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Louisville, 1943 (Library of Congress)<\/p><\/div>\n

Have you read W. Kamau Bell’s The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell:\u00a0 Tales of a 6′ 4″, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

If you haven’t, may I suggest you put it at the top of your list, and pronto? In addition to being funny, moving, and thought-provoking, it’s one of the most influential books I’ve read in the past decade — and could not be more relevant now.<\/p>\n

And by influential, I mean influential to me<\/em> — a white guy living in the United States, and therefore generally oblivious to the terrifying racism blacks experience here on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

So probably influential to anyone who hasn’t experienced what he describes in this brilliant book. It acts as a great antidote to our complacent cluelessness.<\/p>\n

There’s a chapter I’ve thought about so many times since, especially this week. It’s called, “Awkward Thoughts about Being a Black Male, Six Foot Four Inches Tall in America”.<\/p>\n

Here’s how the chapter starts — apologies for the lengthy quote, please read to the end:<\/p>\n

I am afraid of the cops. Absolutely petrified of the cops. Now understand, I\u2019ve never been arrested or held for questioning. I\u2019ve never been told that I \u201cfit the description.\u201d But that doesn\u2019t change a thing. I am afraid of cops the way that spiders are afraid of boots. You\u2019re walking along, minding your own business, and SQUISH! You\u2019re dead. Simply put, I am afraid of the cops because I am Black. To raise the stakes even further, I am male. And to go all in on this pot of fear, I am six foot four and weigh 250 pounds . . . at least. (I stopped keeping track, which is the next best thing to actually working out.) Michael Brown, the unarmed Ferguson, Missouri, eighteen-year-old shot dead by police in the summer of 2014 , was also six foot four. Eric Garner, who was strangled to death by the NYPD, was six foot three. Depending on your perspective, I could be described as a \u201cgentle giant,\u201d the way that teachers described Brown and the way that friends described Eric Garner. Or I could be described as a \u201cdemon,\u201d the way that Officer Darren Wilson described Michael Brown in his grand jury testimony. And just like Eric Garner, I have asthma, so when I hear him say on video, \u201cI can\u2019t breathe,\u201d as the officer chokes the life out of him for selling loose cigarettes, I can feel it in my chest as I\u2019m sure he did.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh that last sentence — so chilling. Written in 2017, in case you were wondering.<\/p>\n

Some readers might wonder why I’m covering this topic today here on an ID blog. Some might suggest I stick to medical topics, say they don’t come here for this kind of commentary, accuse me of “virtue signaling”.<\/p>\n

To them I say — feel free not to read this. No one’s forcing you.<\/p>\n

And imagine if I didn’t<\/em> comment. So much worse — unbearably so, at least for me. Our country’s history of racism is so long and painful the problem will only improve if we all fight it together.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, if you can’t stand a post without ID, how about this from super ID fellow Dr. Aaron Richterman, commenting on the staggeringly disproportionate toll COVID-19 has taken on people of color?<\/p>\n

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Remarkable that this paper in @NEJM<\/a> alludes to genetic differences but doesn't mention the word "racism" one time.https:\/\/t.co\/SetGVpnfU1<\/a><\/p>\n

— Aaron Richterman, MD (@AaronRichterman) May 27, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n