You ever just sit and get so frustrated by inequity that it brings tears to your eyes?

As I finished the last chapter of @thenewjimcrow by Michelle Alexander, I thought about the vast and entrenched roots of white supremacy and oppression and it brought tears to my eyes.

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There's been so much attention given to affirmative action and diversity without fully acknowledging that racial justice does not trickle down. Yes, #representationmatters, and it's hard to be what you can't see. But diversity does not equal nor necessarily lead to equity.

Ex: Im the only Black clinical provider in my division. Im the only URM fellow in my institution's entering class. My presence may be inspiring, but it doesn't fix the leaky pipeline for Black men and women to reach my position. My success does not undo structural barriers.

I used to describe being pre-med as hurdles and it's fair analogy here. My privileges allowed me to walk around some hurdles, like education inequity. My parents had the education and finances for a private school with high resources and low student: teacher ratios.

Other hurdles, I learned to jump over. Black and brown students give up their doctor dreams at higher rates than their white peers. I had my physician father and his friends to help me persevere when I too thought I wouldn't succeed, wouldn't fit in, or should just give up.

Outside of medicine, my presence as a pediatrician in Chicago doesn't change the closing of schools, the policing of Black and brown youth, a family's ability to find work, pay bills, and feed their families, or help a neighborhood feel safe from physical and emotional trauma.

Everything above is an indicator of health, which is is why I can't just be a doctor and see patients. On days like today, I just sit and scheme about where and how I'll make my broader impact knowing my efforts will be in partnership with so many across the country who I admire

There's also a narrative in medicine: "wait til you get to the top, then you can change the system", but Alexander rightly points out that Obama's presidency didn't change racism in America. Change occurs when a movement leads a "restructuring of society" per Dr. King.

In the space that I'm in (healthcare, academia), with "the urgency of now" (credit to Dr. King), I plan to keep talking about and advocating for the overhaul that is necessary to really be about and do equity work. It doesn't have to start at the top, but it does need all of us.