'White African-American' Suing N.J. Med School for Discrimination
Paulo Serodio Says He Was Harassed, Assaulted After Defining Himself as African-American
Okay, Serodio's great-grandparents came from Portugal, but his family has lived in Mozambique for 3 generations. Serodio was born in Africa, therefore he's African. He moved to the US and obtained American citizenship, therefore he's African American.
What's the big deal?
Well, the big deal is, why was he made to have to define himself "culturally" at all? Isn't the US supposed to be a melting pot? (No, it's supposed to be a multiculturist country where everyone else's culture has to be catered to, and the "american culture" of self-sufficiency has to be left at the wayside.
Here's two sentences from the article:
Filed Monday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, the lawsuit traces a series of events that Serodio maintains led to his 2007 suspension, starting with a March 2006 cultural exercise in a clinical skills course taught by Dr. Kathy Ann Duncan, where each student was asked to define themselves for a discussion on culture and medicine.
Serodio labeled himself as a white African-American, another student said she was offended by his comments and that, because of his white skin, was not an African-American.
According to the lawsuit, Serodio was summoned to Duncan's office where he was instructed "never to define himself as an African-American … because it was offensive to others and to people of color for him to do so."
Who are these "others"? Self-hating whites who think *they* deserve to be punished for what the culture of the world was like since time began up until about 40 years ago? (As soon as men figured out how to make weapons, the stronger enslaved the weaker.)
and
Zeff pointed out that Serodio only labeled himself after his instructors asked him to do so and was then penalized for it.
and
The lawsuit claims Serodio began to be harassed by other students who sought disciplinary action against him for his statement in Duncan's class, but was never given a chance to defend his views against the complaints.
What right do students have to seek disciplinary action against him. In a cultural class he defined himself as African American. One class! Big deal!
and
In September 2006, Serodio said he again asked to define himself culturally as part of another course exercise. Again, according to the lawsuit he said he was a "white African-American." And again, he was called to the course instructor's office and told never to define himself that way again.
According to the lawsuit, Serodio then wrote an article for the student newspaper, titled "A More Colorful View Than Black and White," in an attempt to explain his self-identification and to call for tolerance at the school.
But when complaints started pouring into Dr. I. Thomas Cohen, then the dean of student affairs, the lawsuit alleges that Serodio was called in again and told by Cohen that if he "lay low for awhile" Cohen would see that a record of the incident would not be placed in Serodio's transcript.
I ask again...why is a medical school asking students to "define themselves culturally"?
Sure, doctors these days need to know the ins and outs of dozens of cultures, because God forbid they should actually offend someone in the US by not treating their culture right, and God forbid these immigrants learn our culture and figure out that if something is done that offends *their* culture, it's not because it's a deliberate insult but because that's the way we do things, and they need to be tolerant of our ways.
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