by Dr. Boyce Watkins The other day, I received an article submission from my friend and esteemed colleague, Dr. Julianne Malveaux. In her article, Dr. Malveaux did a wonderful job speaking on healthcare disparities, particularly those impacting the African American community. In a fleeting remark that was meant to make a broader point, Dr. Malveaux threw a nuclear warhead at me that made my face hit the floor. She said, “However, one of the speakers at the Rodham Institute conference indicated that not one African American man was admitted to this year’s class at Howard University’s medical school! If historically black Howard University won’t admit African American men, who will?” I was stunned to hear such a revelation, and could only ask myself, “What in the $#%^ is going on?” Howard University, one of the most cherished and respected HBCUs in the country, attracts top students from all walks of life. The school is certainly worthy of respect, but it’s stunning to hear that Howard, like so many other universities across the country, has a diversity problem. The theories regarding why this racial exclusion exists are relatively dichotomous. On one hand, there is the “Black men choose not to apply” theory. In a similar spirit, there is the “Black men are too lazy and all want to be rappers” theory. This speaks to the idea that black men are so absorbed into stereotypical media images, turning up bottles at the club and trying to get into the NBA that we don’t want to become doctors. The notions above also tie into the “Black men just aren’t qualified” theory, which argues that black men are applying, but just can’t make the cut. While most of us can reference problems that have occurred in the advancement of black males, particularly due to the growth of the prison industrial complex, I personally know enough hard-working, intelligent black men to realize that these theories probably do not apply. At the very least, Howard has an obligation to present public data supporting their conclusion that African American men are not good enough to study medicine at their particular HBCU. On the other hand, there is the “Howard might be racist too” theory. This is a distinct possibility that I can reference due to my own experience. I recall being the only African American in the country to get a PhD in Finance during the year 2002. I attended one of the top schools in the world for the field of doctoral Finance, and had worked with some of the leading scholars on the planet. When I applied for a position at Howard, my interview was not with an African American (who would ever expect to see an African American faculty member at an HBCU?). It was with a man from China. Not that there is anything wrong with interviewing with someone from China. I’ve been studying Chinese for years, some of my best students are from China, and I believe that Asians have as much right to be at HBCUs as nearly anyone else. But we’d be lying if we didn’t say that the Asian community often protects itself by forming cartels in the hiring process, often leading to the exclusion of African Americans. This even happens at many HBCUs across the country, particularly in the fields of business and engineering. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted the job at Howard, since the cost of living in Washington DC would have been too much to bear with the student loans I was facing at that time. At the same, I love teaching my people and was interested in making the sacrifice. For whatever reason, the Asian chair decided that “I wasn’t a good fit for the students (who seemed to love me when I spoke to them in class),” so I was sent away to a predominantly white university (Syracuse) that effectively devalued my work in the black community for the next decade. Fortunately, I’m a man from the south who is accustomed to racism, so it didn’t faze me and I created my own path to my people. I figured out how to reach and teach other black folks by creating my own HBCU (so to speak), the Your Black World Network, which reaches over 100,000 black people every single day. My point in this story is not to say that I was the most capable person Howard has ever interviewed. It’s also not to say that the Asian chair didn’t have a good reason to send me packing my bags. But it is to say that if there are few black male medical faculty who are part of the Howard University hiring and admissions process right now, then I am not surprised that they are “somehow concluding” that every single African American male who applies to the Howard University medical school is “not a good fit” for the university. As we nitpick over the qualifications of black men and somehow conclude that they aren’t good enough to attend HBCUs, we have to remember that this is not the approach taken by Asians and Indians who have secured powerful positions within HBCUs. Many Asian faculty are very quick to hire other Asians, and don’t allow someone else to convince them that their own people aren’t good enough. Perhaps it must be argued that HBCUs should belong to African Americans and be the one place where we can expect a fair shot. So, unless we are convinced that black men are inferior to everyone else, outcomes like the one at Howard call for a serious examination of the admissions process. At the very least, the medical school should be expected to engage in a transparent procedure and publicly explain why every African American male willing to attend the Howard University Medical School was told that he is not good enough. If Howard University’s goal is to help produce qualified physicians willing to work in under-served communities, they must make the admittance of African American male medical students a top priority. This means that there should be African Americans reviewing applications to ensure that no quality students end up falling through the cracks. To somehow allow others to convince our people that African American men are unqualified to attend HBCUs is nothing short of catastrophic. We must not be a contributing party to our own demise
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:24:47 +0000
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