America Is Not a Racist Nation, in Health Care or Elsewhere

Excellence is the best deterrent to racism and sexism.

Oprah Winfrey

July 12, 2012 -  Despite boos at Romney at the NAACP convention in Houston for saying he would repeal Obamacare,  America is not a racist nation when it comes to health care or other spheres of American life.

Yes, there are racial disparities, but these are primarily due to poverty, 70% of babies born out of wedlock,  inadequate education with health illiteracy,  failure to sign up for Medicaid and other government programs, lack of black physicians qualifying for medical school,  paucity of primary care physicians in inner cities and rural areas, violence,  unemployment of 14.4% among African Americans,  and 40% among black youths. 

These are serious environmental  and cultural problems that need to be corrected, but  I doubt these disparities are due to systemic discrimination by physicians or politicians.

We live in an increasingly post-racist society.

Ask President Obama.  Because of his life story and eloquence and promise of hope and change,  he won a landslide election 53% to 47%. He was the first black leader elected among advanced nations, something no other Western nation has done.

Ask Oprah Winfrey, America’s most popular TV host and probably the wealthiest American woman/

Ask professional athletes, who have achieved greatness through raw talent and exquisite performances.

Ask any number of media pundits, TV hosts, and journalists, like Eugene Robinson, of the Washington Post, who won a Pulitzer Prize because of the excellence of his reporting.

Excellence,  intellect, talent, and performance prevail in America. We are becoming a color-blind meritocracy, which is the way it should be.

Tweet:  America is a post-racial society,  in which excellence by  African Americans is rewarded in highly visable ways.