Friday Reflection March 2019

[Carli Denholm]

This week’s discussion in response to global hate and discrimination is, sadly, extremely relevant. As someone who is not generally a target of discrimination based on race or religion and in the setting of increasing frequency of terrorism/hate attacks the you hear about around the world, it is easy to become almost numb to it. But hearing about the experiences of my colleagues this weeks was very powerful for me. There were many great ideas shared. Much of the hate seems to be produced from groups of people who socially isolate themselves with like-minded people who validate and strengthen beliefs that they already hold. They dehumanize the targets of their hate. This is exacerbated by politics and media that use labels to divide us and focus on the negatives. The most important ideas, I think, is what we can do to try to change society and beliefs that support fear and discrimination of “other” groups. Ideas like talking about what makes us different and what makes us similar and teaching kids about tolerance. Be active in the community to spread understanding and talk with our representatives. As physicians we can be models of tolerance in our communities. We can help support our patients who may be victims of violence and hate and encourage them to be active in their communities as much as they can. And the same goes for our colleagues.

[antonio smith]

reflecting on the islamophobia article, it was eye opening to see the intersection of discrimination against Muslim people and access to health care, mental health and physical health. it is important to create a welcoming environment and provide high quality of care to our Muslim brothers and sisters to be and agent of change; addressing issues such as mental health, improving health lifestyles and strengthening/revitalizing the Doctor patient relationship between providers and improving socially disenfranchised individuals.

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