2/6/17 Freund Essay

In Colored Property, Freund states that “race is a biological fiction.” This assertion that Freund writes means that the definition of “race” that society has associated itself with, the category in which people are placed in based on their biological features such as one’s skin color or hair texture, is not real. Freund explains that these biological differences have allowed society to divide people into “racial groups” and appoint certain races as superior to others. The creation of a “racial hierarchy” proves that “race” is actually a social construct that has given certain groups of people advantages over others. These groups of people are then presented as inferior based on their physical traits and position in society. 
In agreeance with Freund, Haney-Lopez states that “race” is to be understood as a “vast group of people loosely bound together by historically contingent, socially significant elements of their morphology and/or ancestry.” Haney-Lopez’s definition of “race” does not state that “race” is a categorization of people based on their biological makeup, but rather it is the division of people who are loosely bound together based off of their physical traits and ancestry’s social status. This allows for certain “racial groups” to arise as superior to other races. 
Freund states that "ideas about race... carry tremendous political, economic, and cultural power," meaning that race heavily influences important aspects of our lives. The assumption that one racial group, Whites, is superior to other racial groups, African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, has impacted our beliefs in the United States and has continued to influence our political, economic, and cultural power. This belief in the superiority of the White race in return has affected minorities in the United States accessibility to jobs in the medical field and their ability to obtain health care. The economic stance of minorities in the United States has hindered their ability to attend college and further their education towards a medical career. Without the education needed, minorities will continue to be misrepresented throughout the medical field. Due to the misrepresentation of minorities throughout several medical professions, minorities often do not receive the best health care. According to the "Summary" of Unequal Treatment:Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, minorities are associated with negative stereotypes and biases which influence healthcare providers to discriminate minorities by giving them a lower quality treatment. The discrimination of minorities during treatment leads many minorities to stop seeking health care. This often results in an increase of deteriorating health and death in minorities. In order to stop the unnecessary deaths and mistreatment of minorities, society needs to represent minorities equally throughout the medical field. If minorities are the ones providing the health care, patients who are minorities will be more willing to seek treatment knowing they will not be discriminated. 

According to the “executive summary” from Missing persons: Minorities in the Health Professions, minorities currently make up only 9 percent of the nation’s nurses, 6 percent of its physicians, and 5 percent of its dentists in the early 2000’s, is this still true? Are we still heavily misrepresenting minorities throughout the medical field and on the course of an almost completely white healthcare demographic?