Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Biden, Bonnet Connoisseurs, and Beyond!
21 Plays4 years ago
You in my business...don't do dat! In this episode, we discuss the current conflict in Gaza, Biden dropping the ball once again, and Plies minding black women's business.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Event Announcement
00:00:01
Speaker
Are you interested in leadership within the leading organization for minority pre-medical and medical students? The National Leadership Institute is the place to get engaged. Happening virtually, the next NLI will be June 25th to the 27th. Get registered at snma.org and stay tuned for more information. Let's start the show!
Welcome to SNMA Presents the Lounge
00:00:23
Speaker
What's good, everybody? Welcome to SNMA Presents the Lounge. Whether you're in the student lounge, doctor's lounge, or lounging around at home, get ready to join SNMA for meaningful conversations on topics affecting minorities in medicine and groups that often sit at the margins of health care.
00:00:50
Speaker
My name is student Dr. Aldwin and June is bringing beauty, awareness, accomplishment. Your boy is buying a house. I'm starting rotations about to go into my fourth year, figure out my life, get this residency bag, change the world, inspire minorities, give a scholarship.
Reopening After Vaccine Distribution
00:01:13
Speaker
I know y'all doing some tremendous things too, but what is y'all June bringing? Get it.
00:01:20
Speaker
All right, well, I'm student Dr. Isabella, and June is bringing redemption.
00:01:29
Speaker
because COVID snatched up all of last summer, all of fall, all of winter, a little bit of spring. But with the vaccines, now we are finally in a space where things are opening up. I just got an email not too long ago from my school, and they're talking about some, oh, now we're about to allow the rooms to be at 100% capacity, and all these great things. I was in Ocean City, Maryland this weekend, and there's actually
00:01:58
Speaker
businesses saying, oh, if you're fully vaccinated, you don't need to wear a mask. Like, I'm just like, yo, like seeing people in a store with no mask. Like, that was like, that was like, oh, my gosh, like, like, like, wow. I couldn't even put into words, like the last time I saw something like that and that it was just OK. So I'm like, you know what? It's the reaction season out here. It is what do they call it with slavery reparations? Yeah, it's the reparations. Yes, ma'am.
00:02:26
Speaker
Yes. I love it. That's what it is. What's up, everybody? This is student Dr. Erica Dingle coming at you. So happy to be here and for June. What is June bringing me? I'd say it's bringing outside.
00:02:44
Speaker
I am outside as much as I can be outside considering this semester because Niro is trying to take a sister out. However, I am making it a point to be outside when I can be outside. I want to get all the vitamin D. I want to get all the sunlight, all of the good vibes, and I'm just happy to be here. I am.
00:03:11
Speaker
I'm happy to see y'all and be here with y'all. I'm happy to. I miss y'all. I know. We don't even talk no more. See, y'all don't even check in anymore. Don't do that. You know, I'm finishing at one year. Hey, what's up? Yeah, it's crickets, like. Don't do that. Don't do that. Always lying. Owen is a whole lot. I'm just crawling my way to the end of this first year. Like, I'm crawling, so. You're crawling, but you're making it.
00:03:38
Speaker
I'm hoping so. I will. I will. You are. But you're about to start running like we're about to run this list, Erica. Hey, you heard. I love it.
00:03:53
Speaker
It is our favorite part of the show, as Aldwin so eloquently put it, it's time to run the list. So for our preclinical students, running the patient list on the wards allows the team to address all the pressing matters of the day. And we got a lot of pressing matters to discuss today. So we are about to get into it, shall we good people?
00:04:20
Speaker
Yes, let's get it.
Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes and Middle East Conflict
00:04:23
Speaker
So I feel like I just want the world to be at peace, but I know that's not going to happen. I sound like a pageant queen, world. Right.
00:04:35
Speaker
But obviously we know that that's not going to happen. And we've seen so much happen in the last month or so. First, the rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes in the US. We have everything occurring with Israel and Gaza and
00:04:52
Speaker
Huh, Uncle Joe is disappointing us on that front. Um, so how do y'all, how do y'all feel other than disheartened by the violence that has taken place there and how it's, how it's kind of, I guess, trickling over here in the States.
00:05:10
Speaker
You know, it's been a lot of it's been a lot of different stories I've been hearing, you know, with this whole Israel and Gaza situation. And, you know, I've been there's some people who I follow on Instagram who are, you know, of those areas are Middle Eastern. And some of them have been saying, oh, like.
00:05:27
Speaker
some people are like misconstruing what's really going on and like the news is kind of like either gaslighting certain things or not really like being 100% transparent about what's really going on and I do think that of course American media does tend to dramatize everything than maybe what's really going on but I do agree that there is definitely
00:05:48
Speaker
anti-Semitism and all of these issues that are occurring because you know for instance at my medical school like there's a very large Jewish population they even have like their own organization they send emails you know telling us to make sure that we're aware and like sensitive to these times that Jewish students may be feeling because of all these stuff that's going on in you know in Israel.
00:06:08
Speaker
But I think that overall, I just want to give some background to our listeners in terms of what's been said that they said that so far sewage systems inside of Gaza has been destroyed. They had this coronavirus test laboratory that was completely wrecked. There was broken water pipes that were all over that used to serve about 800,000 people that's been destroyed.
00:06:32
Speaker
Dozens of schools have been damaged and closed, so about 600,000 students have had to miss classes. 72,000 Gazans have had to flee their homes. So it's just been a lot, a lot, a lot of craziness, right? And then on top of that too, we have all this anti-Semitic threats and violence that's been occurring throughout the United States.
00:06:50
Speaker
because of what's been going on a lot going on in terms of like the New York region apparently there was like brawls that broke out in Times Square between like pro-Israel versus like pro-Palestinian protesters and all these things right and I'm getting majority of these resources from um the New York Times so they've detailed what's been going on and in terms of uncle Biden man that guy
00:07:12
Speaker
He's just Biden around like he Biden around I'm saying like he said you know he's publicly supporting Israel's right to defend himself defend itself but at the same time he also had warned the Prime Minister that he can't continue to like, like, let this pressure grow because
00:07:31
Speaker
and let Israel continue doing things that could also affect Americans. And so I think he's trying to balance the two of being loyal, of course, as an American president, but at the same time trying to allow Israel to do what's necessary for their country. So I think it's just a lot of balance that he's trying to do right now.
00:07:47
Speaker
Yeah. I, you know, I, I read, um, on CNN, CNN.com. I felt like he's going back and forth with his words. Like one day he's saying, I support the next day. He's not. This article is titled U S will make significant contributions to rebuilding Gaza. Blinken says, I don't know how true
00:08:09
Speaker
Like, that was May 25th. Are we standing by that or are we not? And to your point, Biden is just Biden-ing now. I love that, by the way, Biden-Biden-ing. And in no way, shape, or form do we accept this. We completely speak against these acts of violence, regardless of the countries that are involved. Like, be clear. And also, just a quick mention, because there's so much anti-Semitism going on,
00:08:39
Speaker
Pro-Israel doesn't necessarily mean being pro-Jewish. And I think that's another reason why we're seeing an uptick in these random
George Floyd Justice in Policing Act Discussion
00:08:48
Speaker
but not so random acts of violence. It's pretty upsetting season.
00:08:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's just, you know, it's just a very complex issue that is very difficult to disentangle for me, you know, moving forward and seeing it being outside perspective, but I do agree on the points of, you know, I just want peace. You know, I remember when I was a kid and I used to ask my dad.
00:09:13
Speaker
What is your wish, dad? What is your greatest wish you could ever have? And it's world peace. And I still feel that right now. I just want people to be in a place where they're comfortable. I want to be in a place where people respect each other's views. And it's just saddening to see hundreds of people being killed, regardless of whether they're Jewish or of the Islamic faith. These are lives. These are family. These are sisters, brothers, wives.
00:09:36
Speaker
And we don't necessarily, I'm not necessarily targeting like who's wrong or who's right, but I'm really targeting the issue at hand, which is to respect and accept each other and love each other genuinely. I will say this, that especially as it pertains to our community, you know, we've had
00:09:51
Speaker
you know, certain transgressions, particularly with the Jewish community. But from my perspective, I think it's incredibly important that we sit down and we educate ourselves about not only what are the things going on in our community, but also what's going on abroad, because that affects us. And in regards to Biden, you know, tiptoeing, tap dancing around, bro, you can't do that. Just like you're doing this on a student loan debt, like I'm watching you right now, bro.
00:10:17
Speaker
So you got to be real with the energy you coming with, because honestly, we know that there is, you know, there is a business political side of why he is supporting Israel. Right. And not to say it's right or wrong again.
00:10:31
Speaker
That's his own decision. But at the end of the day, we have to be critical about our leadership and what decisions they make and how it impacts us locally. If you invest in millions of dollars over there and we got issues here, son, I'll keep 100. We got issues over here. You know what I mean? You give an aid. Come on, bro. Like, what about that aid coming to my loans? I'm sorry. I got to bring it back to that. But nonetheless, we understand. We understand.
00:10:57
Speaker
And, you know, listen, this is just another reminder of us trying to be aware of like actually pushing forward with the things that we want as a nation, as in the world. So Israel, the US, because the US, like you just said, Alduin, they have their own issues. Let's take, for instance, the George Floyd situation that we're still
00:11:19
Speaker
You know, trying to get past that to happen and like, you know, it's been one year since he's died. And the bill, which is known as the George Floyd justice and policing act of 2021 has was introduced on February 24, and it was passed by the house on March 3.
00:11:39
Speaker
And essentially this bill is supposed to address, you know, accountability for law enforcement misconduct. It restricts the use of certain policing practices like the unnecessary use of like force or the making sure that there's like restriction of the no knock warrants and the choke holds and even carotid holds. I don't even know why we even have
00:11:56
Speaker
What the heck is a carotid hold? We don't even have to fund a bill, but apparently that's a thing. And just enhancing transparency about these policemen who could have had complaints made against them for police misconduct. And so I just think that
00:12:15
Speaker
like this is something that's so important that we need to make sure that we like make sure this bill gets pushed forward and passed and that it's also a reminder that policing in this country is still something that needs to be worked on. It's still an issue that's plaguing our nation
Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Concerns
00:12:30
Speaker
and unfortunately it hasn't ended since George Floyd. And so I'm hoping that this bill is like the first step towards actual real accountability.
00:12:37
Speaker
That would be nice. You know, it's you know, it's crazy like in the House, it was passed 220 to 212 and no not one Republican voted to pass the bill, although it still went through. And obviously we still waiting for Senate to make moves on that. But I think this bill is incredibly important. You know, you look at even recently in 2019, there was an individual called Mr. Green in Louisiana that was bludgeoned to death by three white police officers.
00:13:05
Speaker
And to this day, you know what I'm saying? We don't know what exactly went down. Like I listened to interview and his sister was just talking about how when they went to the autopsy, it was like, this man, he did not look like he died from a car crash. He looked like he was literally beat to death.
00:13:21
Speaker
That's terrible. The transparency part is this is what is necessary because a lot of these police institutions, they don't have to abide by the fact that they have to let people know exactly what they don't have to let all the web, the video cam footage be let known. They don't have to let you know who are the individuals, the suspects in the crime. They don't have to let you know who are the police officers involved. So it's just crazy for us when we are law abiding, tax paying individuals in this country.
00:13:50
Speaker
And for people to do that, especially in the black community, when we're hardworking and we set the foundation for this country, like it is a travesty and it's unacceptable. Y'all creating all these other bills like anti this and that. What about us? What about us? Why do I gotta feel like I come out the block and I see a cop?
00:14:08
Speaker
and i'm scared to death while i'm driving by and i see a police in atlanta driving past me and i'm feeling like all anxious and apprehensive because of what i'm seeing and what i know what the realities is and we gotta change that reality why am i paying to get killed by you why am i paying to get killed by you yeah it makes sense bro and that would that bring them please
00:14:28
Speaker
I agree. And that brings up a bigger point. I mean, we mentioned already that this bill is delayed. Like, how do we feel about police reform in general? I mean, this delay is due to Congress negotiating a rollback qualified immunity to hold more officers or hold officers more accountable for violating civil rights or for using excessive force.
00:14:56
Speaker
And then you have people that are still, you know, defund the police, which I was on board with that for a minute, but what exactly is police reform? Because I don't think it's necessarily defund the police. I think it's more, let's try to establish better practices and training. Let's reallocate our resources there. What are your takes on that?
00:15:18
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely agree with you Erica, because I think with the, so it's funny that you mentioned like the defund the police thing, because I was actually gonna touch on that. Like, I do think that police reform, a huge part of that kind of rolls with the defund the police thing. But the thing about defund the police does not mean, okay, we don't need any police, right? Like, that's not what that means. That means that literally what she just said, let's take this money that we're shoveling into the policing system, and let's use that to build community centers for kids to go to after school.
00:15:44
Speaker
or to build places where there's productive citizenship being exemplified, where you don't have to feel like you need to go to the streets and engage in risky or violent behavior. And there's actual places like Camden, New Jersey where they literally
00:16:03
Speaker
cut like the funds they were putting into the police system by half and the crime rate dropped extensively. So it is proven that it works. I just think that you have to know if this money that you're taking away from policing, where is it going to go to? Is it going to go through something positive that will actually create change?
00:16:19
Speaker
Right. Or like a neighborhood watch, even. Right, exactly. Yeah, I agree. That's a fact. Yeah, I mean, for me, you know, defund the police. I do agree with you, Erica. Like, we have to allocate appropriate resources for other opportunities within our communities. I think some of the things include mental health training,
00:16:43
Speaker
Allowing a lot of police officers to understand, all right, this person may be experiencing depression, anxiety. Maybe you could see signs of an individual engaging in particular activities, but that may be because they've drank alcohol or they're having issues at home. Having that psychological awareness and wherewithal to say it's more to it than just that individual, right? They're not just a criminal. They're a human being.
00:17:05
Speaker
And our behaviors are a product of what we see, what we interact with, what happens to us, and what we do to our environment as well. So I think that de-escalation training, allowing more police officers to live in the same communities that they live in. Honestly, I feel, you know, back in the 70s and 80s, that's what it was, right? You police the same area that you lived in. And so you had fealty, you had loyalty to that. So whatever you did, it was either good or bad. People knew what it was. And so we had a perspective that we would respect you
00:17:35
Speaker
if we knew that she was holding it down. But if you're not holding it down, then it's a lot more pressure on you. So what you're going to do, you know what I'm saying? You're going to act accordingly, act appropriately at the end of the day. And I think also allowing more engagement between political leaders, the police and the community, you know, including gangs, nonprofits. I think we have to have sit downs, more sit downs and discussions because there's so much mistrust between all of these community entities. Right.
00:18:00
Speaker
So how do we prosper? How do we move forward? We have to create a situation where we feel comfortable enough to talk about it, to be real and transparent with each other. It's not every day that you see a blood or a brother on the block, chilling, talking to another NYPD or whatever police officer you could think of, right? Talking about how do I work for you? Like, how can I best service your community? And how can I ensure that I'm behaving or acting in a way that I don't get killed. I don't get shot. You know what I'm saying?
00:18:28
Speaker
Like, how do we integrate these two things together so that we build a better tomorrow? Not necessarily just for us, but for our progeny, for our future. I'm scared. I'm scared for my kids. You know, God willing, if I have kids to come into this world, I got to teach them so many things that other races don't have to worry about. And I don't want that to happen.
00:18:46
Speaker
You know, I think also it's a bigger issue of government. Like honestly, we voted for the Biden administration because we thought they were going to do right by us. And not to say it hasn't been a year yet. All right. So we're still giving y'all a little bit of grace, but let's talk about what we really want to talk about right now regarding this loan forgiveness because
00:19:09
Speaker
That was one of the major things that had a lot. Listen, I am listening. I'm trying to laugh. Like seriously. Listen, Uncle Joe, you were invited to the cookout. I was going to bring you a plate of potato salad myself.
00:19:30
Speaker
But now I'm just, I'm very upset. And it's like, like campaign promise after promise is getting dropped. And, you know, during his campaign, President Biden, Uncle Joe, now he out here Bidening, pledged to forgive $10,000 in student loan debt for all borrowers.
00:19:50
Speaker
And the rest of the debt for those who earn less than $125,000 a year and attend public or historical back colleges and universities. And now what are we left with? Absolutely nothing. He promised. The promise is gone. What in the world?
00:20:08
Speaker
All right, all but that.
00:20:23
Speaker
Speaking about this issue, though, honestly, like every day, that's one of my favorite topics is to look up, you know, student loans that we find out that we find out that on average, 78% of black students take out federal loans to pay for college, higher than the national average.
00:20:39
Speaker
which is at 60% and white students is at 57.5%. So there's already a huge disparity in itself. And we're talking about just for college. Now look at our situation now. Isabella, you took out debt. Did you take out loans? Yeah, of course I did. Erica, you took out loans from that school? Absolutely.
00:20:58
Speaker
And I took out loans from med school, like, and we know that this, and when you look at the statistics for medical school students as well, we're the second largest group of people to take out that percentage outside of international medical students.
00:21:14
Speaker
We have to hold him accountable. We have to hold him true to what he stated and what was his purported mission. And I think that was probably his top three or four. We were talking about a heavy a year ago. Now, how does this just dissipate? You know what I mean? And the NAACP and 35 civil rights organizations called for $50,000 debt cancellation on April 1st.
00:21:35
Speaker
Yeah, for him to address that. That's a lot of, but I want to say shout out to Wilbur Forest University, the HBCU. He actually canceled student loan debt for graduating students. Clapping it up. $75,000. You know what I mean? Amazing. If you expect us to go out into these communities, be doctors, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and today he even did a press conference and talking about the racial disparities on why black entrepreneurs aren't successful because they don't have black accountants and they don't have black lawyers to support them.
00:22:02
Speaker
So if you're talking all that, then be about it. Put the money where your mouth is. Put it. If you're not doing that, then I'm not trying to hear that la, la, la, that talk, talk. Like, I need action. I need you to put this money in my bank account right now so I can pay my loan, so you don't do it. You know what I'm saying? At the end of the day, honestly, like, I feel like on a political scale, like, we, it's not enough of us on the political end, right, doing enough advocacy, not enough of us putting stuff into his ear and letting him know, like, what's really good.
00:22:31
Speaker
You know what I mean? So we got to uphold our character, but we also got to uphold him in terms of keeping sure that he's doing what he needs to do. So Biden, the time is ticking. You know, you kicked out of my own, you know, barbecue, you know, and family gathering. So I ain't rocking with you, bro. I ain't rocking with you, bro.
00:22:50
Speaker
I need to make a super quick point too because like Derek Johns from the NAACP also made this really good point like how he said student loan debt continues to suppress the economic, economic prosperity of black Americans across the nation. You cannot begin to address the racial wealth gap without addressing the student loan debt crisis. You can't just address one without the other plain and simple, right? So we're talking about getting to
CDC Mask Guidance and Public Reaction
00:23:13
Speaker
generational wealth. We're talking about
00:23:14
Speaker
black people trying to advance, you know, we've had so many setbacks, we've had redlining, we've had, you know, not being able to take out bank loans to get homes, we've had, you know, all these systematic ways to make sure that black people don't get the same opportunities. And the reason why we're so behind when it comes to just wealth in general and student loan debt is right on par with that. And so I think that he definitely disappointed, especially the black people who was writing for him, who was supporting him, who was campaigning for him,
00:23:41
Speaker
He's basically throwing this out. And I think he really needs to reconsider, honestly. He better. Honestly. Well, all right. We got that off our chest and all went and said it with his chest. He said it with his whole chest. His whole entire chest. I believe you. I believe you. I believe you.
00:24:04
Speaker
In other news, and this kind of makes me sweat because I'm still nervous because of COVID for a number of reasons. But the CDC says vaccinated folks can take their masks off. And we're pretty much going by the honor system out here in these streets. And I don't know how I feel about that. I'll be honest. I don't know, y'all. I know I got mine.
00:24:30
Speaker
What I need people to not do is go around sneezing and think it's okay to not wear a mask. If you're sick, put it on. I don't care whether you don't have to put it on. Like, if you got the flu, put it on. Because I'm wondering why we were already using masks when people was having the flu, fever, all that. Why were we out here sick and sneezing?
00:24:47
Speaker
Freely, I'm so confused. Air droplet precautions or droplet precautions like in any other institution, but we walking around here and they people were out here really getting these fake cards. So it's just, it's like do, I mean, although half of the country is vaccinated, right? According to the recent data, however,
00:25:09
Speaker
There are still risks. Like there was a baseball player the other day that tested positive after getting vaccinated. We know that that can happen. So I just, I personally don't know. I don't know y'all and I'm happy to be traveling soon, but I just don't know. I mean, I definitely think that like,
00:25:30
Speaker
So we're in the medical field and I feel like like we're amongst already kind of like a safe space because we know that our job requires us to take this stuff seriously. So we have to be vaccinated. For the most part, we're going to be around other people who also have to be vaccinated because that's just the space that we're in. Now, mind you, now, once we leave that space, all bets are off, like it is what it is. So I think that like it's more so just like being cognizant. All right. Like when I go out, like
00:25:56
Speaker
Who is in this space with me? Are we all medical students? Are we all in the health field or are there a couple of Joe Schmoes that I don't know what you're doing? You know, planning a vaccine or not? Yeah. So I just think it's like just just be just use discretion, you know, use your mask when you know that you may be in a space that these people didn't have to really get vaccinated and use your mask if, like I said, if you're just sneezing for whatever possible or coughing or whatever, or you have some kind of sickness, it is COVID. But you don't need to be spreading that.
00:26:25
Speaker
Please don't. Please don't. Oh, my mama. I'm outside with it. You know, I'm outside. Mask off. I knew it. I knew it. Yoda Roams, don't put them. Aye. I'm sorry to get that out of the way.
00:26:44
Speaker
But for real though, I'm in Atlanta right now and everybody just, there's no mass in sight. I was in Publix today, which is a grocery store out here and over 80% of people in there don't have a mass. So a lot of the businesses out here, it's up to you if you want to. They're not necessarily enforcing it. They took down all of those signs that was mass needed. So people are just,
00:27:07
Speaker
out here. And I'm sure most of those people aren't vaccinated, right? We'd like Erica said is 50% of the people that's vaccinated out here. So I believe I'm double massing son, honestly, I mean, triple now because people they just doing whatever. And I don't know. Do you I don't know. I don't know if you ever get to that 70 80% plateau on
00:27:28
Speaker
because you know, the vaccination rates are decreasing each and every day. I think we will. I definitely will because now these spaces are making people have to get vaccinated. They like to start school up again and to like- That's a whole other conversation. Pen is making everybody get vaccinated. So I think like if you are going to something that's consistent, like a job or school, you may just have to get vaccinated. So we may get there. I think we will.
00:27:49
Speaker
I thought that they were going to try to come through with this vaccinated or vaccine passport because you know lots of people are starting to travel, right? So it's funny though, there are so many travel snobs. You would think
00:28:07
Speaker
I don't know. It's almost like elitism to a certain extent. People are upset that people are trying to travel. Well, first of all, whether people have traveled before the pandemic or this panorama, panty raid, whatever, whether they travel before that or not, that's their business. And if they want to go be free, go be free. You know what I'm saying? I don't know why we have to. And they're saying that they're traveling using Klarna, which is a easy payment.
00:28:33
Speaker
Uh, options. So it's like, uh, it's basically like a credit play away. You split it up in four payments and you have to pay with that. Yeah. Right. You pay all that stuff, but let's not act like before we had these options, people weren't already putting their plane tickets on credit cards. Okay. Like let's stop acting as if people weren't already finding means. Cause I know you cannot go to Tim buck two and then go to Bahamas in the same way.
00:29:01
Speaker
with the salary that you're making. Now you're doing too much. They're just mad that now everyone has the access to use what they were already using to travel. And I think that's okay. They should. Go ahead. MYB. Mind your business.
00:29:19
Speaker
If you don't have nothing to do with you, if it's not heard or impacting your life, then just leave it as is. Don't hate, appreciate, and celebrate. Because you could be in that position if you make the right decision. If you make the wrong decision, then you're not going to be there. Oh, well, who cares? I'm moving forward in my life, and so should everybody else. The world is opening up. Why should I continue to restrict myself if I'm taking the proper precautions to protect myself and my community? Now I get the opportunity to live the way I need to live.
00:29:45
Speaker
This whole year has been a testament to everybody's mental health, you Isabelle, you Erica, how you transitioned over into medical school on a fully virtual platform. Social beings as humans, you know what I'm saying? So to be able to, you know what I'm saying, transition over back to what is normalcy, it's been very difficult. So I salute anybody that's, you know, accepting that and willing to take that chance to go travel. And that's what the world is about. Like, you can't be stuck out here on the same block and the same energy all the time.
00:30:15
Speaker
I agree. Especially your whole year, you're limited. Limited minds will see what only limited people can see. You feel me? Yeah. They need to operate in the spirit of worry about yourself.
Texas Heartbeat Bill and Women's Rights
00:30:28
Speaker
That's what I feel like everybody needs to do, especially white Republicans, because here we are in 2021. And the Texas heartbeat bill, which makes
00:30:41
Speaker
abortion at six weeks, illegal now. And you know, I'm so tired of people who don't have a uterus policing uteruses. I don't know if that's even the best way to say it, but like, and who is it? It's usually the white Republicans. And this bill requires, this is crazy. Like who knows for real, for real if they're pregnant at six weeks all the time.
00:31:03
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? Like six weeks. Anyway, I digress, but I will progress. This bill requires that providers check for a fetal heartbeat before performing an abortion and bans them from carrying out the procedure. If one is detected y'all, this is me.
00:31:24
Speaker
it's the doing to it coming out the woodworks like why are you and like you know it goes back to like just literally mind your business and you know the thing is that like they really believe that by putting in laws like this this is actually going to help women and like help this situation of saving babies you're literally going to kill not only the baby but the mother because the mother is going to find a way if she needs an abortion to get an abortion
00:31:46
Speaker
And then you're going to have a lot of illegal abortions going on, people dying left and right. And you're going to be sick because you thought that you did something for these people when really you just exacerbated the situation. So I wish we could just literally have faith in Roe versus Wade that already happened years ago and leave it alone. Why do we keep going back to a law that already got passed? You know, it's just it's giving it's giving force.
00:32:10
Speaker
So, and it's crazy, there's a similar bill in Mississippi and that one is for, I think, 15 weeks. It's just wild. I'm done talking because I'm angry. I believe in women's ability to execute the decisions they want for their bodies. And so I always say this on this platform, I'm supremely against a lot of these bills. And I think it is really, really for control. Like it's really for them.
00:32:40
Speaker
to systematically control what's going on in regards to women and instill the patriarchy that's been in America for so long. And often we always talk about this, like we're dealing with a whole pandemic and y'all pulling up with all these bills. Where was this energy five, six years ago? Like God is coming out.
00:32:59
Speaker
Hey, you know, uh-uh, you know what I'm saying? And so for me, it's just, you just see the ploys and the actions that they're doing and how they really are trying to cultivate this kind of ideation and perpetuate it. And these Republicans, they constantly are coming out here and trying to go against the grain when they know that most people don't agree with them, you know what I mean, at the end of the day. So we, again, we got to be out here in these streets and ensure that
00:33:23
Speaker
These bills don't pass. Texas has been one of those places, Oklahoma, Arkansas. It's unfortunate when you talk about all of the disparities as it pertains to maternal health care. And so they are definitely reinforcing these issues. And we as future clinicians and physicians, we've got to stay at the front line and continue to combat this.
00:33:43
Speaker
Right.
Billy Porter on HIV Status and Stigma
00:33:44
Speaker
And I think that like, you know, bills like this further show like America's ugly head when it comes to just judgment and just like pretending like we're the moral compass, which is why you have individuals like Billy Porter, who recently revealed that he was HIV positive, but this was not a new diagnosis. He's been right. He received this diagnosis all the way in 2007.
00:34:05
Speaker
And he just now came out with it recently. And that's because of the judgmental, oppressive state that America can exude all the time to people that people want to hide who they are and, you know, and shrink, or at least like, like not like give away details that could
00:34:24
Speaker
would have made a difference if they had said it, you know, years ago. Right. And so he talked about how, you know, he basically 2007 was like the worst year of his life. He was bankrupt. He found out he was HIV positive. I think he even found out he had type two diabetes and he just like was living basically like in isolation and just like in in a very fearful state with all of these things that were new to him and new to his life. And he didn't even tell his mother about his diagnosis.
00:34:52
Speaker
And it's just, it's just really sad that, you know, you have, and he's such a prominent individual, right? Like, and he's, you know, he's such, he's, he's going to be in so many new projects and he's doing a lot for himself, but it's just crazy because, you know, he said how that role in Pose was like him basically being able to talk about his own life, but in a way that was like, not like him saying it directly, but him saying it exactly through a certain, yeah.
00:35:15
Speaker
And it's it's beautiful that he used that role to help almost like as a cathartic release for his own struggle. But it's also sad that he couldn't have been able to say this before, you know, and I think it speaks to the character of our nation, how we just don't accept people for who they are.
00:35:30
Speaker
Yeah, I think the stigma is so real. Like I remember on my surgery rotation, we had a black patient who had came in and he basically had inflamed gallbladder and we took the gallbladder out. And when I remember going to visit him, you know, for two weeks, you know, straight back to back. And the first day after the surgery, the surgeon, you know, told me like, hey, this guy, he's HIV positive. He didn't even tell me and it was a white guy.
00:35:59
Speaker
And it's like, yo, you don't even understand what this man is going through. You know, through the two weeks that I was sitting with him, talking to him, he's like, yo, I was afraid. Like, I don't want people to know. Like, my mom doesn't know. My brothers don't know. And it's like, it's real because we got to center these conversations about this is not about the person, the individuals, about our community. It's about accepting and celebrating the fact that they're dealing with this issue. Having HIV is not easy. You know what I mean? There's mental issues that can arise.
00:36:26
Speaker
physical issues that can arise, physiological issues. So we as a community have to learn how we can communicate with each other and be transparent with each other. And it's not, you know, it's a very challenging thing because over the past 20, 30 years that we've known about HIV,
00:36:41
Speaker
And even though there's a lot of treatment plans that you could put forward for HIV, it's still the stigma of, if I let people know, will people accept me? Will I be able to go back into my community? How would people perceive of me? Will I not be able to get jobs? Will I not be able to get into a relationship? Will I not be able to have a family?
00:37:00
Speaker
So all of these revolving doors of issues and questions, it's an unfortunate aspect of the disease, but we have to learn again, that it's not about the individual. It's about us respecting them, respecting the process and supporting them so that they can move forward with their life. So shout out to Billy Porter, because he's not necessarily doing it for himself, but he's also doing it for so many people that are dealing with this thing issue. Especially the Black community. Especially the Black community and Black men.
00:37:26
Speaker
HIV online psychiatry rotation with the APA because I'm really interested in this. Like I really want to advocate for this, you know what I'm saying? And really learn more because it's such a complex issue and we got to continue to talk about it. If we don't talk about it, then we're not aware about it. And if we're not aware about it, then we can't change it.
00:37:43
Speaker
You know what grinds my gears a little bit and we can move on. Like HIV has no look. Nobody goes around looking to become HIV positive, right? But then you have, and I'm using our community mainly because
00:37:59
Speaker
you have people who are diabetic, hypertensive, and they literally don't even, like that's something that you get because of how you technically mistreat your body, right, on the regular. Like that's the diabetic process, that's the hypertensive process. It doesn't just hit overnight. You can get HIV from sleeping with a person one time. And I just think it's crazy how we look at persons with HIV
00:38:26
Speaker
Like, oh my God, versus, and not to say we should go. That's like a chronic condition that develops over time. Over time, we don't look at diabetics like, oh my God, you still not exercise it hasn't. You know what I'm saying? Like, why? Like, I think to your point, all when there really is so much more behavioral
00:38:51
Speaker
a need to address the behavioral side of certain diseases, et cetera, et cetera. And I wish we just did a better job at that in our community. So shout out to you for applying to that program. I think that's dope. We need more of that in medicine for y'all. Thank you, Erica. And you know what we need less of?
00:39:15
Speaker
We need less, less of these, these sexual assault cases. These physicians out here. What do we need? Like psych evals on everybody that comes through every system at this point.
Doctor Faces Sexual Assault Charges
00:39:26
Speaker
Sounds like it. This California OBGYN sexual assault case. Listen, this man, Dr. James Heaps, a former gynecologist at the University of California, was brought up on, I always say brought up on charges.
00:39:43
Speaker
He was indicted for 21 counts of very lewd acts, sexual abuse offenses, where he is accused of sexually assaulting several women. This is a doctor, an OBGYN.
00:40:00
Speaker
Bro, like, what do you do? Like, what are these people doing? Like, Erica, like you said, they definitely need like some mental health. Like, we got to do a whole PHQ nine when these people run through and make sure we do that every year for every doctor because this is not right. You know what I mean? Like, we hear this.
00:40:16
Speaker
all the time and it's crazy like that this is happening but we don't emphasize this enough. So many women go through this and don't have the voice, they don't have the opportunity to be put in a position where they can elaborate on their experiences. So I'm glad that this is being put out and we have to continue to navigate these situations and recognize that we as physicians, we have to
00:40:35
Speaker
hold ourselves to accountable and accountable level and have some integrity. I'm sure there's people around him that knew what he was doing. And they was on the hush-hush saying, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, let me turn my head. Like, nah, you make sure you, man, I did somebody do something crazy like that. I put my paws on them like crazy. Like, when I be reading that, I just feel sorry for so many of these women that go through this. And oftentimes, it's just they're just left defenseless. Like, they don't know where to go with it. But
00:41:05
Speaker
Honestly, as a physician, as a future physician, I'm just disheartened to continuously see this in our profession and is truly breaking down the barriers of what we have created, especially in the Black community. This happens too. We've seen this happen to ICE detention centers. We see this happen
00:41:22
Speaker
all the time. So we, there's something that has to go on. We got to make sure we regulate these institutions, make sure we regulate these doctors and hold them accountable. I hope that you go into jail for a very long time and that there's people out there in that jail that's going to take care of you.
00:41:42
Speaker
I'm sorry. I honestly think that like, you know, it's scary for me because he's a whole obi joy and so it's like how to even avoid that situation because you're assuming that you were trained to do it medically and not
00:41:57
Speaker
sexually but clearly now we gotta we gotta that's another layer we gotta you know peel off um but i want to of course make it known that this man thankfully was arrested in june 2019 his medical license has been suspended so he's no longer a doctor so that's one good thing um but like i said this is this is concerning to me because he is a whole like he's literally the doctor of
00:42:20
Speaker
women's genitals and you know like if someone trains to do that but they literally have a sickness like that how do you even like begin to like weed out people who could have that and then decide to train in these areas you know it's to me it's like it's really sad that that's the case and you know it's it's him Dr. James or let's say James Heap he lost that title
00:42:43
Speaker
Then there's even like the U.S. gymnastics case, which that's near and dear to my heart with Larry Nassar. We also removed the MD from his name because goodbye. That one was crazy. I remember I watched that documentary on Netflix called Athlete A and it literally went into the entire situation of like this man was a U.S. gymnastics doctor, former osteopathic physician. And this he literally like
00:43:08
Speaker
almost he had hundreds of women, like gymnasts, who he would do these unnecessary physical evaluations, claiming that, oh, yeah, I need to look at your vagina for some reason or whatever. This is like, what are you looking at from this vagina for, for a sports eval? Like, what does that have to do with about my leg? OBGYN. Exactly. Right. He's like a sports medicine doctor. Like, what are you doing?
00:43:33
Speaker
How did you force it like that? You know, so like I think that it's really sad that, you know, we put ourselves in this field. We trust these people who said that they want to do it. We say the Hippocratic oath and all that stuff and y'all out here doing it for your own personal sick gain.
00:43:49
Speaker
Right. Right. And was wild, you know, not to belabor the moment, but just so y'all are aware, this this James Heaps guy, and I don't know the charges specifically for Larry Nassar, but he faced multiple counts of counts each of sexual
00:44:07
Speaker
Sexual battery by fraud sexual exploitation of a patient and sexual penetration of an unconscious person by fraudulent representation according to a copy of the indictment allegedly took place from this took place from 2009 to 2018 and It's just you bring up a good point is like how do we protect think both of y'all did actually how do we protect our women? Like what do we do? I don't know
00:44:35
Speaker
Me as a black man, I have to acknowledge black women and women in general's pain, the overarching patriarchy that has influenced a lot of our societal economics, our societal relations, our societal barriers. We have to continue to acknowledge that and we have to continue to be in a place where we can talk about it, where if we see something going down, it's not snitching. It's like, yo, this is wrong.
00:45:04
Speaker
Right. If you're from the streets or you're a physician or that's your brother or your colleague, like we got to put pressure on the people that we see that are doing wrong because oftentimes, again, people turn their head and it's like, oh yeah, that's his own business. I want to be involved in that. But by you not being involved in that, you are guilty by affiliation. You are guilty by turning against your morals and so on.
00:45:25
Speaker
We have to uphold the morality of our profession, uphold the morality of our community by saying, no, this is wrong. And if you cannot do this, you know what I'm saying? And I'm going to report you. And so I think at the end of the day, if we're not able to consistently put that effort in and consistently say that we are going to engage in this fight, then there's going to be issues that are going to continue to arise. Very true. And I think that when it comes to protecting women,
00:45:55
Speaker
You know, it's sexual assault is one front. Then there's also the front of closing your mouth when you weren't asked to be in a conversation. I want to use the example of Plies, who for some reason he made himself the connoisseur of bonnets.
00:46:12
Speaker
that should be used and who should wear bonnets and what the time of the day the bonnet should be and i don't know who asked him to join this conversation please please go back to the whatever year he his raps made sense was that 2000 sis wait sis you said the connoisseur
00:46:36
Speaker
He's doing too much now like he let me say what let me say the tweet that this man He said it should be a law You shouldn't be able to wear bonnets. No more the six feet outside your residence ain't in y'all business ladies I just thought they were supposed to be sleeping. Okay
00:46:50
Speaker
That is in my business. Let me break it down, Mr. Plies. My bonnet will be used at the time that I want my bonnet to be used. So if I decide to make a quick grocery trip with my bonnet, it's not your concern. If I decide I want to get gas in my bonnet, it's not your concern. I don't know. Like, I'm sorry, all when get your black men, they're doing too much.
00:47:11
Speaker
Yeah, I love women and bonnets. I love women women in their natural beauty, their natural state. So I'm waiting for the day where I see a doctor, a black woman doctor, and her bonnet pulling up. So I'm all for support of you, Isabella. And I'm definitely against plies. And I'm letting it know. Ladies, wear the bonnets to the extent that you need to. Wear it at the beauty salon. Wear it on the block. Wear it at the bodega. Oh, it's important. I support it.
00:47:37
Speaker
You know what, though, Owen, and we love you for your support always and forever. Like, you know, plus, thank you. Plus also follow this up with saying bonnets is the female do rag, but I have never
00:47:53
Speaker
ever heard any black man come at incorrectly or sideways for wearing his do-rag in public in fact, it's fly. So here we are again with this radicalized lens on the bonnet and with black women feeling like, can we get some support? And you know what? If you want to wear your bonnet, cool. Like that's your business. I'm operating in the spirit of worry about myself. If I like, you know what I'm saying? Like if that's what you do, cool. But I don't understand why
Celebrating Influential Women on US Quarters
00:48:23
Speaker
why there's always just this target. Like we had one of our executive producers tell us a story about being in the OR with, I believe it was a young lady white girl with a messy bun. And the bun wasn't even like a cute messy bun. It was like, you need to wash a hair tight messy bun. It probably smells tight messy bun, but did she get approached?
00:48:47
Speaker
No, but I could literally wear my little fro and it'd be considered to be unprofessional. So it's just tiring, man. We always got to make up for the heat that we get. Always got to look perfect. Can't wear a bonnet. But you know what? I'm going to just wear it by myself. But you know what? On the other side of the coin, and I'm going to say the other side of the coin, that's a little. Ah, the coin. I love it.
00:49:13
Speaker
Let's say, let's say, we need to do a song. I love it! I got to do a song. We do have black women being celebrated when it comes to coins and specifically quarters because they're trying to get some new quarters made to celebrate women who have actually made impacts on all fronts, whether it's in the arts, the sciences, you know,
00:49:42
Speaker
Yeah, like art sciences, whatever other fields, yeah, life in general. They're trying to celebrate them through putting them, well, of course putting them on quarters, but you have to be deceased in order to be on the quarter. And so far they've come up with two women, one being Maya Angelou, you know, the poet queen.
00:50:00
Speaker
The civil rights queen, she's just she's done everything. And then, of course, Sally Rice, who was the first NASA woman astronaut. And so these two women should appear on the quarters. I think starting, yeah, starting June 2022, according to one of the CNN. According to CNN.com.
00:50:18
Speaker
Mm hmm. And yeah, and then they also want to get input from other people on on which woman they think should be included on the rest of these quarters. So I need to find whatever form I've got to fill out because I got a lot of women that I'd love to see on some of these things that we carry in our wallets. Hashtag Michelle Obama.
00:50:34
Speaker
And we need women, specifically black women on some of these bills too. They're talking about Harriet Tubman being on a $20 bill. They're working on that currently. So I hope that comes into fruition. We just need more diversity because they have a lot of white supremacists and all of that on there.
00:50:53
Speaker
I'm just happy about this. I'm happy that we continue to celebrate such achievement, especially in our community. Like we don't know so much about our history because we're not exposed to it. And now you get to highlight some of the important women in their accomplishments and how we can accomplish just like them. And I'm elated because this is just a beginning trend to say in 2026 to 2029 and what they're going to do. We might have 10 black women on there. You know what I mean? That would be dope.
00:51:23
Speaker
And you know what, speaking of just excellence, we want to congratulate all of the graduates of 2021. We are so so proud of you.
00:51:42
Speaker
Camilla, Faith, everybody. Everybody, all those graduating, R21, Lauren, yeah. Varnell, gang, gang, gang. I know there's too many names, so I'm gonna just chill right now. But shout out to everybody. Well-agreed, especially the SNMA, all the graduates. I'm so happy, and y'all inspired me. That was my original class that I came through with in 2017, and see y'all just grow up, get into residency, and now y'all getting a bag, changing the world.
00:52:09
Speaker
It means so much to me. I love you all for real. For real. Same. And it's interesting because there's so much achievement still taking place, right? As SNMA, we see Black excellence, right? There's the LMSA, I believe, for Latina students. But y'all, there's still such a discrepancy
00:52:35
Speaker
in the field of medicine in general. There has been a call to action on Twitter for, listen, we want to know, we want, we want numbers. We want to know, share the tea, specifically to the N, it was NMRP, NRMP. We want to know two things. So first, 1984,
00:53:04
Speaker
2.5 times less likely to match for Black med students. In 2015, Black med students, 2.7 times less likely to match. So 30 years later, this gap has widened. And that's for Black students. For Latinx students, same timeline, 1984, they were 2.5 times less likely to match.
00:53:33
Speaker
And what's the source, sis?
Disparities in Medical Residency Matching
00:53:36
Speaker
Tell us the source. Oh, sorry. I thought I said it. This is according to JAMA. This is according to JAMA. Oh, yes. Oh, that JAMA. Oh, girl, I was late. I want to tell you about that next time. Actually, if y'all want to look it up, it's an article called Placement of US Medical School Graduates in Graduate Medical Education, 2005 through 2015. So y'all can look up the article, do your research yourselves, because this is an issue.
00:54:01
Speaker
And like I said, it's been a call to action by many physicians specifically on Twitter because we want to know what's happening. And like, we want to know how do we fix this amongst us if there's anything we can do. And why is there still such a discrepancy? Why do y'all think?
00:54:22
Speaker
And yeah, I talk about y'all need more diversity, more black doctors. Yeah. I know the percentage is 5% of physicians are black. Yeah. We make up 14% of population. And yet is the trend is getting worse. Make it make sense. Like, yeah, I'm talking, but not, yeah, not about the real energy. And I think that the problem is that this is oftentimes swept under the rug because it's not affecting the majority. Right.
00:54:48
Speaker
If we was a majority and we seen, oh, there's a decrease in blacks getting into residencies, we're going to tackle it head on. But the system in itself is created not for ourselves to be successful, rather the majority to be successful. And so this conversation, we got to put the pressure and pause on the NRMP, on ACGME, the WAMC. I've been meeting with program directors from various residencies just because of issues like this.
00:55:14
Speaker
I'm emailing them like I got a meeting on this Friday. I'm meeting with a neuro psych residency. So because of issues like this, we got to put our face to the front of this and tackle these issues. And when I'm in these meetings, I actually like straight up like how many black residents have you had? What is the diversity initiatives?
00:55:31
Speaker
But you got to target that and you got to let them know you got to put it to their minds so that they're aware. And even if I don't match there, at least they're thinking about like, oh, this man, like he's really, really trying to enforce this and push the issue because I'm not dumb. And most of the black students out here, all the black students are not done. We know this is an issue. So we got to continue to have these conversations and not be timid, not be scared. You know what I mean? Because if we are like, if we don't face it ourselves and nobody's going to do it, if we don't put our
00:55:59
Speaker
issues to the forefront, and who else will care about it? There's so many patients waiting for us. They need us to match. They need us against a residency. They need us against a fellowship. So we're not just doing it for ourselves. We're doing it for our future. We're doing it for dealing with health disparities. We're dealing for the kid on a block that wants to be a doctor. And he sees that that's a gastroenterologist, or he sees that that's a breast radiologist, and he wants to do that. That's what we're doing it for. So we can't forget that. I agree. Period.
00:56:28
Speaker
Well said. Well, y'all, that is our show. Thank you. It was very we had a lot to talk about today, but you know, everything we did it, y'all. We did it. I'm out of breath. They got some respiratory failure going on. I forget y'all. We got to we got to give a shout out to Pride Month, y'all. It is Pride Month. Happy Pride Month. It's also, I think, National Black Men's Health Month. So that's
00:56:58
Speaker
Get your colonoscopies and celebrate with pride. That's it. Y'all going to take care of my health, Erica and Sibeli. I got me. I got you for years, bro. I got you. I got you. OK. Well, anyway, let us know your thoughts about the discussion we had today by emailing us at podcast at SNME.org.
00:57:22
Speaker
and be sure to follow the SNMA on social media to stay up to date on upcoming events like joining the podcast team. Come one, come all, all right? We have spots that are open. We've had some of our fourth years are now leaving us and so we do.
00:57:38
Speaker
have need in the team. Everyone is important on this team. Trust and believe, Erika and Aldo know that the backbone of this podcast are those who have been behind us, who have been pushing us, who have been controlling all of the things to make these episodes sound as beautiful as they've sounded. And so please, if you have any interest in this, come out and join us. We need you. And of course, don't forget that on June, from June 25th to June 27th, it will be the national leadership
00:58:06
Speaker
Institute and we need everyone to come out to that as well. And yeah, come on. Come all guys. I just want to say. Oh, sorry. It's so hard to say goodbye to my home. That was for you. We love you now, but thanks for tuning in.
00:58:35
Speaker
It is love. Peace.