Open Letter to Dr. Ben Carson: Your Failures Hurt All of Us

Dear Dr. Carson,

When I first came across your story, I was heavily inspired. I admired your ascent as a black man from humble beginnings to achieve unprecedented success. I was in awe of the relationship you had with those you hold most dear. The more I learned, the more I knew that not only did I want a career like yours, but I wanted a similar legacy as it pertains to the type of man that people knew me to be.

So from late elementary school on, the road to medicine started thanks to you. I realized that apart from memorizing state capitals (I won the Geography Bee for my school in 6^th grade), I also had the sleight of hand when it came to math. Early scientific principles were intuitive to me. The straight A’s were coming in, but simultaneously, my parents were raising me to be kind to others, thankful for all that God has given me, and recognizing of my talents so I can contribute to help make the world a better place. Fast forward, I get through high school, hit some bumps in the road in college but my goal remained the same, and the stars aligned ever so perfectly to place me in the position that I am in today as a full-fledged board-certified physician.

So I opted not to go sawing open skulls to perform brain surgery, but to practice primary care because it was the best fit for me. It has opened my eyes to a world that I didn’t have any real understanding of even as a young black man raised in a middle-class family. The folks that I serve give a new meaning to ‘having issues’. They deal with barriers to basic quality of life that I could not have even imagined. I started to learn just how much they needed me, not only as the gatekeeper to their healthcare, but as an advocate and outlet to vent their frustrations and worries. I figured that if I can recognize this and appreciate the magnitude of the position that I am in along with all the responsibilities that come along with this, then someone who has been in the same shoes as these patients would find such revelations to be more resonant. However, it appears that I am wrong.

I’ll admit that I am a registered democrat. But even when I learned that you were a republican, I still thought to myself: ‘okay, his ideals may have evolved over the years based on his life experiences, but he would still use any platform that he is given to do some good’. You tried to run for president, then conceded to Trump, then settled for the Housing and Urban Development gig that was offered to you because you are a black man who lived in an urban area once upon a time. ‘Okay, maybe he will still use this opportunity to do some good.’ The affordable housing crisis intensifies with each passing day, and those in some form of housing are left to live in substandard conditions. ‘Okay, maybe he will still use this opportunity to do some good.’ Now come the plans to evict undocumented immigrants and allow shelters to deny entry to homeless transgender individuals, on top of a performance at a Congressional hearing revealing that you had 26 months to do your homework, but didn’t even crack open the front cover of your textbook. Okay, this ship has sailed.

Obviously, you cannot eradicate all the racial housing disparities or solve all the problems confronting urban America from your post, even if you work diligently around the clock and approach this task with the utmost tenacity. But in light of your blatant apathy and quest for harmful austerity, I ask: what did vulnerable, disadvantaged, disenfranchised people ever do to you? I feel like we have to be missing something here. During my childhood, you were right next to Bill Cosby on my Mount Rushmore of black male figures that inspired me to strive for greatness professionally and personally. Cosby’s reputation was shattered and now you are swiftly chipping away at yours. This hurts us all, because when we as a people work to make a name for ourselves and establish legitimacy, there are always forces working against us to elicit an imposter syndrome, regardless of the shade of our melanin. Now with some of our greatest representatives showing major flaws in image, these forces will be perpetuated with even more intensity. We are approaching the realm of unsalvageable, but even as someone hoping for a stronger blue wave to take this country by storm in the years to come, I pray for your attempt at success. My uncontrolled diabetic patient struggling to purchase proper nutrition or find stable housing with her section 8 voucher is depending on it. In one way or another, we’re all depending on it. Get it together or step down doctor. Do you concur?