A couple weeks ago, my fiancé pointed out to me that I had spent an hour on the phone every single day that week mentoring a different black female premed/ medical student on their career trajectory. That didn’t include emails I’ve sent back and forth trying to connect them, or the times I’ve spent creating lesson plans (literally) to educate my classmates on institutionalized racism because our schools considered such knowledge “controversial.”
Some of this is me doing work that I think is necessary. But this invisible, unpaid labor is done by most black students I know, starting from undergrad, and continuing as we get further into academia. It doesn’t get us AOA. It isn’t looked upon especially favorably in admissions, despite the fact that the institutions that accept us expect us to continue this labor for them once we get there. It- and the constant micro + macroaggressions we face - distract us from other elements of our education. Imagine taking Step 1 without just the pressure of your own dreams on your back, but also the knowledge that if you don’t do well, you will jeopardize the fates of the students who are coming after you, who will be painted with the brush of the “undeserving?”
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