Black Man in a White Coat

During the first five chapters of Black Man in a White Coat, Damon Tweedy writes of his experience while being a medical student, and living in a mostly racially prejudiced world. The story is intriguing coming from his perspective, and he really puts emphasis on how even little racial remarks personally affected him.

Tweedy carries on an average day-to-day life as a Duke medical student, but has the added difficulties of racial prejudices. His university, professors, and patients were all seen, in some way, to imply racialized ideals in regards to Tweedy’s standing as a future Doctor. However, what stood out to me the most, was the black prejudice against other black people. Especially through Tweedy himself. Tweedy writes “Much of my life had been devoted to combating and defeating vicious racial stereotypes. But in witnessing the pathology of Leslie’s behavior and the doctor’s and nurse’s reaction to it, I suddenly felt naked, as if someone had stripped me of my white coat and left both of us to share the same degrading spotlight.” Multiple times throughout the chapters, Tweedy writes about having some disdain for the people that are living up to the racial stereotypes and further worsening the outlook on the black community.

Further in the book, Tweedy goes on an EMT call to a very poor area of Atlanta made up of a mostly black community. While being there, he was seemingly uncomfortable, and made assumptions based on the people of the town, even while being colored himself. Tweedy writes “Or was it the many ways in which I’d been indoctrinated by both white and black people, throughout my life, to see poor blacks as inferior and susceptible to so many problems?” I think these racial prejudices against his own race were a continuous, underlying problem with Tweedy, as well as other black professionals, as they climbed up the educational ladder. On the other hand, Tweedy also receives a black patient who shows a great deal of racial prejudices against him as a black doctor, basically saying that he was only used to express diversity in the school, rather than having the qualifications. As the colored stereotype was known to blacks themselves, they seemed to apply these ideas about their race to their own racial views of their community.

Tweedy, as a black doctor, faces these racial ideals everyday, through both white and black patients. White racist views and remarks against the black community, are usually evident and obvious, and more expected of than those made by blacks themselves. I believe that black prejudices against other blacks, is a way of projecting their own frustration on the stereotype that will always be attached to their physical appearance.