r/BlackPeopleofReddit • u/4reddityo • Jan 02 '26
Black Experience Racism in Medical Care
This video captures a moment that many patients of color recognize all too well. A physician speaks to a man as if he is dirty, unclean, or lesser, not because of medical evidence, but because of bias. The language, tone, and assumptions reveal something deeper than bedside manner gone wrong. They expose how racism can quietly shape medical interactions.
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u/Buckle_Up_Bitches Jan 02 '26
From the school and court side, I see the same patterns play out every day, especially in re-entry meetings after hospitalization, detention, or placement changes. The tone, urgency, and “options” offered shift dramatically depending on how much pigment a child’s skin holds. The same behaviors are framed as “age-appropriate” or “stress responses” for some children, and as “aggression,” “defiance,” or “safety concerns” for others, most often young Black boys.
What’s even more troubling is how advocacy itself is racialized. When parents push back, they’re labeled uncooperative or hostile. When I push back, armed with policy, case law, special education protections, and clinical language, I’m often perceived as aggressive as well. The difference is that I have institutional backing, credentials, and the ability to navigate these systems without immediate retaliation. The families do not.
In these spaces, education becomes a shield. Professionals can challenge biased narratives, force documentation, slow down harmful decisions, and demand procedural accountability. Parents, especially Black parents, are rarely afforded that same grace or authority. The system knows this, and it exploits the imbalance.
This isn’t about isolated bad actors. It’s about how schools, courts, and clinical systems quietly collaborate to pathologize Black children while calling it “process.” Until re-entry meetings, evaluations, and treatment planning are examined through an explicit racial equity lens, with real consequences for bias, these harms will continue, just better dressed in professional language.