7 - Black Voices in Healthcare: Standout
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Why does standing out feel like a super‑power for Black physicians?
You're listening to The Nocturnist, Black Voices in Healthcare. I'm Ashley McMullen. Have you ever been in a classroom, a meeting, or on a patient care team? and quickly realize that you are the only one who looks like you. I have. Many times. Going to predominantly white schools, I always stood out. And I remember all I ever wanted in those times was just to fit in, to be accepted. Being different can be hard, especially when society tells you that your differences make you inferior. But I remember that speech from Lena Wayth when she won an Emmy for her writing on Master of None. She said, the things that make us different are our superpowers. And now I live by those words. I stand out, loud and proud of who I am.
This week we'll hear our stories about standing out, about the challenges of being the only one in the room, but also the virtue of our sense of style, sense of purpose and individuality. These are our superpowers. Here's episode seven. Stand out.
I have been standing out since the moment I entered my family. My parents are white and adopted me when I was a baby. My older sister is white and my younger sister is extremely light skinned. So as the only brown person in my family, my voice looked different. I grew up in a very homogeneous white town. All of my friends in high school were white. And even to this day when people ask me where I'm from and I say North Dakota Eyes pop out. People chose The response is always I didn't know there was black people in North Dakota. North Dakota is a lot of things. It's flat. Like when you travel on the interstate, you can see unobstructed for what seems like miles. Which makes for crazy beautiful sunsets. It's a place with all four seasons.
The summer days are scorchers. At night the tornado sirens and hail knocking on the roof are common sounds. But those winners though Mm. They are now for the week. There's the snow. Which comes down gently like God is shaking out a down pillow. It's peaceful, it's pretty, it's calm, it sparkles as it settles. When the sun reflects off, it's so bright you have to squint. But then There's also the blizzards. They pile snow up so high it covers your car. And when you dare step outside, the wind is sure to whoop you in the face so hard it stings from the wind burn. But if you think all of that is gonna buy you a snow day from school, you played yourself because North Dakota don't stop for no blizzard. So I was born in North Dakota and I was adopted when I was about six weeks old.
My family has always been close. We love sports, we love going on vacation together, we love Mexican food more than anything in the world. But from looking at us, you can barely tell that we're family. My dad is the most laid back guy in the world. He's my homie. My mom is a character. She's usually on the phone making a business deal. You know how these days you see a lot of the super woke white transracial adoptive parents. They acknowledge their privilege in that their brown children will have different life experiences than them. That is not my parents, I think. They had more of the we don't see color, everybody is equal. mindset that was unfortunately far too common in the nineties. I love my family, but I longed for someone that looked like me, shared my features, my skin tone.
My hair texture. I was one of about four black people in my high school that had about a thousand students. I was the only black person on all of my sports teams. I remember travelling to different cities for basketball and volleyball games. And there would also be one or maybe two sole black girls on the opposing team. Being The only black girl can become so much part of your identity that it almost becomes a competition rather than camaraderie with other black people in your space.
How did growing up as the only brown person in a white family shape the guest’s identity?
And books. They assume that you have the option to diversify your social circle and they don't even have a chapter that describes this type of black desert. So I fled. After high school I was drawn to the diversity of metropolitan areas. I moved to Minneapolis and then Oakland, California, and then Cincinnati.
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