Christian Head, a professor of head and neck surgery at the University of California at Los Angeles, has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the UCLA Medical Center and the University of California board of regents. The suit claims that Dr. Head has been intentionally degraded based on his race and UCLA officials have ignored blatant acts of racial discrimination directed against him. In one incident depicted in the lawsuit, Dr. Head was depicted as a gorilla being sodomized by his White superior in a slide shown at a presentation to the medical center staff.
Here is a video that tells the story of Dr. Head’s experiences at UCLA.
I’m speechless and trying to fight back tears, but God. I pray that the Holy Spirit goes before God the Father on Dr. Head’s behalf. Trust God to do what He does best Dr. Head. Help is on the way!
Keep fighting! Do not accept this type of offpurpose treatment Dr. Head.
I am not surprised. Discrimination against African American professionals as institutional racism is live a well and has never stopped; it has only gone underground or is more covert than before. The clock used is “there isn’t any African Americans “qualified” for the positions or able to do the work or have bad attitudes or are poor team players or none could be found”. As it is said within the community, “any excuse will do” and the excuses go unrefuted. Many African Americans put up with type of discrimination and harassment across the nation and just keep their heads low and mouths shut in order to keep their job. They mentor other African Americans for their profession outside of the professional realm through their churches, fraternities, sororities and organizations because they know there is no avenue for such mentoring within their job sites. It is as it has always been just more covert. The discrimination get worse in times of recession or shortage of resources thus each group holds the prize closer to his/her chest and only shared with his own group. Usually this is the mainstream group because the other groups of color never had access in the first place.
I believe discrimination increased when we elected an African American president. Possibly an unconscious fear of resources being shared too readily which caused the ability for a man such as President Obama to exist. It shocked the US people especially the mainstream and a price was put on his head, not a bounty but a role of “being superman” because he had beat all history’s odds. This was and is totally unfair. He is smart, highly educated, articulate, and possibly smarter than most we have had in the past as president, however, he has the same boundaries, the same contentions and no cooperative parties as other Democratic presidents of the past. He is not an anomaly, which such people of difference who accomplish great things are labeled, consciously and unconsciously. Therefore, they are doomed to fail any way they proceed because the feat expected is that of someone supernatural. This isn’t just done to African Americans but any one from a specific group that excels beyond what has been their groups “expected prejudical norm” such as women. So I say once again, I am not surprised but rather see it happening across companies, organizations, universities, hospitals, financial institutions and more on a daily basis.
THANK YOU DR. HEAD FOR STANDING UP AND BRINGING IT TO OUR ATTENTION SO AMERICA CAN JUDGE SUCH BEHAVIOR.
I feel the brother’s pain. I am currently paying thousands of dollars in legal fees to fight my employer for disparate racial treatment. In a nutshell, where I work Whites have carte blanche to disrespect Blacks and when someone Black complains they come after them. When does it end?
Keep up the fight, Dr. Head. I hope you (and justice) prevails in the end.
Continue to fight for justice Dr. Head.
You can support Dr. Christian Head by going to http://www.change.org and signing the petition.
I am Dr. Head’s mother, and I share his pains, I think of my son when he was very young. He couldn’t hear until he was four years old. After many years of trying to catch up by having private tutoring, and working extra hard, he watched his three brothers and one sister have very little problems.
He made a decision very early to be a ear, nose and throat doctor.
He has always traveled the right road. He never liked to fight physically. He was born in Japan, lived in France, Germany, and Okinawa and had no problems. But coming back to the states, and having to deal with his personal problems was a struggle for him. One day a white boy walked up to him and said, I am going beat your —. Christian said why, I don’t know you. The boy insisted, and pushed him. Needless, to say, this young man will never try that again. But he tried to talk the boy out the fight. In my struggles in life, I would not be able withstand abuse the way he has. I think in the four years, he couldn’t hear, he learned to think about each unpleasant situation, and take the right route to solve the problem.
I pray God will reward him one day. God knows he did not deserve or anyone, to endure this abuse. Especially while having to do six or seven surgeries a day. In addition to his research.
He has two beautiful daughters, and a beautiful wife, who loves him.
Contrary to Denise Batton’s observations this is hardly covert or discrimination which is underground. For those of us who grew up in the sixties and tried to find a better perspective on the races, this is an abomination. We haven’t come as far as many of us hoped we would. Maybe someday?
I can only thank Dr. Head for standing his ground. I know it isn’t easy but certainly the right thing to do.
I say take your skills to Meharry Medical College. They probably love you to death over there. As I get older I have learned, “get in where you fit in.”