Working Toward Equity in Flyover Country: A Tulsa ED Physician’s Perspective
RACISM AS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS
By Joshua Gentges, DO
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Tulsa is a beautiful city. From our wonderful art deco architecture to the Gathering Place, a hundred-acre playground called “the best new attraction in the nation” by USA Today, the city is the jewel of Green Country, a region packed with swift rivers, placid lakes, and green rolling hills. It is my home, and I love it with all my heart. When we truly love someone or something, we must be able to see it clearly, blemishes and all. The nation now knows Tulsa much better than ever before, as the protests over the damnable murder of George Floyd and the first rally of President Trump’s 2020 campaign cast a harsh light over our shameful history. The Tulsa race massacre of 1921 is a stain that remains uncleansed, partially because we only began teaching about it in schools here, on a limited and trial basis, in 2018. Let that sink in…Tulsa high school students know more about the worst
“Vigilance and a continued commitment to reducing social, economic, and health inequities are necessary to help our city to become a place where all are treated fairly and given the opportunity to live healthily, happily, and without fear that they will be disadvantaged because of the color of their skin.” racial violence incident ever seen in our country from HBO’s Watchmen than they’ve learned in history. 1921 is a long time ago, surely we’ve become an antiracist, equitable place to live? I would like to cheerlead for
my city, to say that we are better, but I cannot; systemic forces continue to generate large health disparities in the city that disproportionately affect Black Tulsans. These disparities are indisputable; from infant mortality to life
