When I read the dialogue about "stupid, ignorant doctors" and then read the disclaimer about "we really don't mean you highly evolved docs on Lactnet" it reminds me vividly of another context.
   
  Often I am the only person of color or Black professional at meetings or in my work place.  When it comes to a time when people are discussing MY people, I hear "how could those people be so stupid, so ignorant, not understanding how to take care of themselves."  Then the person turns to me and says, "of course we don't mean you, you really understand what is needed."  So I am accepted for being the "honorary smart Black person."  The underlying lack of understanding remains ( a euphemism for racism, provincial thought).
   
  At times I get tired of the "Rent a Negro" position that I seem to have (please google rent a Negro if you don't understand what this means).  Almost feels like the I am in the house slave role (There is a historical dynamic in my community about those who chose the house slave versus field slave role).  But some house slave also kept track of the massa, made it possible for the field slaves to have some extra benefits.
   
  In the Utopian world, all ignorant doctors would send their patients to lactation consultants and LLL.  However many lactation consultants and LLL chapters have some major issues about how they deal with people of color, people of less means, people who do not chose the lifestyle that the lactation professional or peer counselor promulgates.
   
  It's great to vent at times BUT what are you going to do to make things work better? Change doesn't happen when you create more walls of defensiveness.
   
  If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem- Eldridge Cleaver.
   
  Pierrette Mimi Poinsett MD
  Petaluma CA
  

 

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