If you could un-invent something, what would it be?

If I could un-invent something it would be the false social construct of race. A couple of years ago I was attending a seminar organized by Patricia O’Campo I was surprised to learn that

“Race correction” has no scientific basis because “race” is not biological. It is a social construct that is applied differently in different times and in different places. In fact, scientists have shown us that people have more in common genetically across “racial” groups than within them”.

For some context the seminars were organized to educate clinicians and other interested parties about ending something called “race correction” in clinical care. The definition given of race correction is

“when health care providers use a patient’s ‘race’ to calculate laboratory results or use ‘race-based’ diagnostic charts, calculators or cut-off range to decide whether or not a Black person should receive care or decide whether or not the symptoms a Black person is reporting require treatment.”

We can discuss the inadequate care black people often recieve in the healthcare system at a different time but the adjustments made in treatments have no scientific basis. I don’t consider my self ignorant and I’ve always know that everyone is equal but even I was surprised to learn that there is no significant biological difference between people that would require medical adjustments because of race.

I’m still batting with this idea because even knowing that there is no truth to the lie of race it is hard to think we are all the same. If I as a black person can have some reservations about our sameness imagine how easy it is for a racist mind to convince themselves of the inferiority of others. We may wonder why does this really matter but

“For example, health care providers calculate kidney function tests differently for Black patients than they do for everyone else. This “race correction” makes Black patients seem healthier than they are. That means that a Black patient can have serious kidney problems, but, after the race correction is applied, their test will come back as “normal.” Overall, race correction means that Black people are diagnosed late, or never diagnosed at all, for serious conditions such as heart, kidney or lung diseases. It also means that Black people can be excluded from timely access to life-saving treatments like organ transplants and other surgeries.”

I also started wondering about conditions that primarily affect black people such as sickle cell anemia but that could be attributed to environmental conditions and not race. Then I thought about the advice I got to start taking more vitamin D and wondered is that also race correcting? I’m not sure but what I do know is biologically we are all the same and if I could un-invent something it would be race and when that was gone I would swiftly move to class but that’s for a different post.