Part One - Black Man in a White Coat

In the first part of Damon Tweedy’s novel, Black Man in a White Coat, readers learn about the discrimination of medical schools, more specifically, Duke University. I found it to be rather shocking just how much racial discrimination that there still is in these schools. I realize that most professors are older individuals and that it’s possible these professors grew up racist and still have prejudices, however, I would have never expected such a prestigious school with highly respected professors and faculty to undermine an individual simply because of their race. I think what caught me most off guard was Tweedy’s story of the professor who thought he was there to fix the light. The reasoning behind this isn’t even just because he assumed it was that the black student was maintenance, but rather how he handled the situation after he learned Tweedy was a student. Instead of apologizing and explaining he was in the wrong, the professor just turned and walked away, showing that he clearly had not a care in the world that he had mistreated a student based off of the color of their skin. After he opens Part One of his book with this story, it is easy to see why there are so little African Americans in the medical field. Tweedy goes on to write about a conversation that he has with a fellow student, who was also looking to go to medical school. He states that when he mentioned to this other student about attending Duke, the student’s response was “you know how they don’t have a good track record with people like us.” I couldn’t believe that there was so much racial tension in such a good school that black students were trying to talk other black students out of enrolling in that school, despite the excellent education that their peers would receive. This in itself shows that something needs to be done about this issue.