AMA to Apologize to Blacks for Racism

[King]

By LINDSEY TANNER,
AP
Posted: 2008-07-10 08:39:52


CHICAGO (July 10) - The American Medical Association is issuing a formal apology for more than a century of discriminatory policies that excluded blacks from participating in a group long considered the voice of U.S. doctors.

The apology stems from initiatives at the nation's largest doctors' group to reduce racial disparities in medicine - from the paltry number of black physicians to the disproportionate burden of disease among blacks and other minorities.

It comes more than 40 years after AMA delegates denounced policies at state and local medical societies dating to the 1800s that barred blacks. For decades, AMA delegates resisted efforts to get them to speak out forcefully against discrimination or to condemn the smaller medical groups that historically have had a big role in shaping AMA policy.

The apology being issued Thursday might seem belated, but it isn't the AMA's first for its discriminatory history. Dr. John Nelson, then AMA's president, offered a similar apology at a 2005 meeting on improving health care and eliminating disparities, sponsored by the government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

That came a year after the AMA joined the National Medical Association, a black doctors' group, and other minority doctors' groups in forming the Commission to End Health Care Disparities.

"It is true that what the AMA did historically was awful," said Dr. Otis Brawley, the American Cancer Society's chief medical officer. "There were AMA local chapters that actually had rules against black members well into the late 1960s, and policies that made blacks not feel comfortable well into the 1980s."

Brawley, who is black, said he's never been an AMA member, but that the apology "certainly makes me much more interested in working with them."

Dr. Monica Peek, a Chicago internist and member of the AMA and National Medical Association, said the apology "creates an open and healthy dialogue for addressing these issues" that black doctors have long been aware of.

But she said AMA's actions don't lessen the need for a separate group representing black doctors.

Addressing health disparities hasn't always been a part of AMA's mission "but it's something that has never been off of NMA's radar," Peek said.

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This is for those false propagandists that try without success to dismiss the magnitude and effects of centuries of White racism against minorities. Jack talks of other people taking responsibility as if he and his folks have ever taken any responsibility for their own actions.

Here is another story for you to chew on Jack.
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Southern Baptists apologize to blacks for racism

The Southern Baptist Convention recently passed a resolution apologizing to Blacks for supporting racism for much of its history.

The vote in favor of the resolution received a standing ovation from 20,000 members of the nation's largest Protestant denomination gathered for their annual convention in Atlanta.

The resolution condemning racism, said in part, "We...unwaveringly denounce racism in all its forms, as deplorable sin; and...that we lament and repudiate historic acts of evil such as slavery from which we continue to reap a bitter harvest..."

The resolution continued, "We apologize to all African-Americans for condoning and or perpetuating individual and systematic racism in our lifetime...We ask for forgiveness from our African-American brothers and sisters, acknowledging that our healing is at stake; and...We hereby commit ourselves to eradicate racism in all its forms from Southern Baptist life and ministry."

Gary L. Frost, the only Black in the faith's leadership, accepted the apology on behalf of Black Southern Baptists.

"We pray that the genuineness of your repentance will be reflected in your attitude and your actions," said Frost, a pastor from Youngstown, OH, and second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

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Oh Jack, read the third paragraph properly. I thought you said everything was fine now, and that those who point out the evils of the past were only engaging in the blame game. Guess what, nobody solicited this apology from the Southern Baptist. Their conscience just wouldn't rest, so they voluntarily (to the surprise of African Americans) issued this apology with recognition of the current effects of the racism.
Now, since the southern Baptist had admitted to its own participation in racism, are they a hate group? Are they anti semitic, or anti black, or anti Christ? If not, how come when Minister Farakkhan points these very facts, he is labeled 'racist'?