44 percent: Black doctors and healthcare, Little Haiti Book Festival and Brittney Griner
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You’ve probably read the headlines, heard the stories or have one of your own, but it’s an inescapable fact that Black people consistently face biases when it comes to healthcare.
In 2020, the Kaiser Family Foundation and online news outlet the Undefeated published the results of a poll that indicated Black people have a deeper distrust in the healthcare system than white people, with less than 60% of Black respondents saying they trust doctors to do what’s right, compared with about 80% of white respondents. According to the poll, about 70% of Black people said the healthcare system treats people unfairly based on race.
South Florida is no exception. According to a 2023 Community Health Needs Assessment, 17% of the Black population surveyed in Miami-Dade County believed they were treated worse in their healthcare experiences than people of other races. Black respondents also noted the “Black community is not taken seriously when issues are brought up.”
But the other challenge is finding a Black doctor. A 2022 Gallup poll revealed more than 53% of Black people found it challenging to find a Black healthcare provider. By comparison, 85% of White people and nearly 60% of Hispanic people found it easier to find doctors that look like them.
The issue is heightened in Florida, where Black residents comprise 17% of the population but make up less than six percent of the state’s doctors, according to the 2023 Florida Physician Workforce Annual Report. By comparison, Asian residents comprise 3% of the state’s population but make up 13.3% of the state’s physicians.
The Miami Herald is looking to bridge the gap between Black residents and Black doctors by developing a database that would allow residents to search for qualified Black doctors the communities in which they reside. The Herald is asking doctors to fill out a Google Form with their professional information to connect them with Black residents.
INSIDE THE 305:
How AI is helping South Florida’s Black and Latino residents manage their health
What if artificial intelligence could predict the outcome of your health before an issue escalates? Well, one company in South Florida seeks to do that, the Miami Herald’s Michael Butler reported.
Butler writes: “In 2001, Severence MacLaughlin was immersed in his work as a doctoral student researching computational biology. Many of his days were spent recording data using a mainframe computer that took up an entire room. One question continued to bug him. “As I was coding the data, I wondered why businesses didn’t use data to make business decisions,” he said.
MacLaughlin, 45, is the founder of DeLorean Artificial Intelligence, a Palm Beach-based healthcare company that uses data from patients’ medical records to predict possible health outcomes before they escalate.”
Appeals court clears convicted Miami-Dade cop of lying, battering young Black woman
A three-judge appeals court panel overturned a former Miami-Dade police officer’s conviction two years after he was convicted of lying on an arrest form and battering a Black woman, the Miami Herald’s Chuck Rabin reported.
As Rabin reported: Two years ago a jury convicted a Miami-Dade Police Officer of lying on an arrest form and battering a young Black woman who called police after an older white male neighbor pointed a shotgun at her. Video of the incident was jarring and rocketed through social media. Community leaders cried out and the officer - whose job was to train others - was fired.
Late Wednesday, the conviction of former Field Training Officer Alejandro Giraldo was overturned by the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami. The three-judge panel reasoned in its seven-page ruling that the state’s argument that Giraldo falsified the arrest form was “subjective.” The court said since intent could not be proven, the battery charge would also be dismissed.
Storytellers bring hope and resilience to Little Haiti Book Festival
Entering its 10th year, the Little Haiti Book Festival will be held Sunday at the Little Haiti Cultural Center and feature Miami-based storyteller Ketsia Theodore-Pharel with music from Miami-native Inez Barlatier and DJ Nicky Mixx. Attendees will also be treated to other activities, including a traditional Haitian dance workshop, yoga sessions, and a comedy show. The festival will begin at 11 a.m.
OUTSIDE THE 305:
Being vulnerable is a difficult thing to do no matter who you are. I can imagine that was the case for WNBA Basketball star Brittney Griner, who sat down with ABC’s Robin Roberts and detailed the events before and leading up to her arrest after cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her backpack at a Russian airport. Griner told her of harsh conditions in the Russian prison and her mental state as she and her attorney worked to get her released. The interview will leave you teary eyed. How Griner found the strength to recount her story on a national platform multiple times (You can read her story as told to Jenna Wortham with The New York Times Magazine) is beyond me, but I likely require great strength. Still, we’ve likely been told only a sliver of it. Her book, “Coming Home,” will be in stores May 7.
HIGH CULTURE:
Who hasn’t wanted to tell off the person you hated the most? Well, rapper Kendrick Lamar embodied that when he dropped “Euphoria,” a six-minute and 23 second dis track to Drake which would in a plethora of ways have pleased late rapper DMX. Lamar sets the scene perfectly, as a clever X, formerly known as Twitter, user noticed, opening with a line said by Richard Pryor’s title character in The Wiz, played backwards: “Everything they say about me is true.” The scene is from when Pryor’s Wiz is exposed as a fake, a phony…a former politician to be exact. The song is up from there. Listen to it yourself and decide if you’ll take the high road in whatever beef you have.
Where does “The 44 Percent” name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter’s title.
