The violent protests by Nazi sympathizers and White supremacists this weekend in Virginia ended in three dead and a number of people injured.
Waiting to treat the injured was a multicultural trauma team at the University of Virginia.
It was against this backdrop that Dr. Esther Choo sent out a number of tweets about her experience in treating White supremacists in Oregon.
1/ We’ve got a lot of white nationalists in Oregon. So a few times a year, a patient in the ER refuses treatment from me because of my race.
— Esther Choo (@choo_ek) August 13, 2017
Yes, those White supremacists would rather go untreated than being cared for and even saved by an Asian American.
She followed with numerous other anecdotes.
“They invariably pick the intern, as long as they are White. Or they leave. Breathtaking, isn’t it? To be so wedded to your theory of White superiority, that you will bet your life on it, even in the face of clear evidence to the contrary?
But amidst the gloom of this weekend’s violence, Choo offers a reason to be hopeful. She refuses to let these White supremacists bring her down.
“I used to cycle through disbelief, shame, anger,” she tweeted. “Now I just show compassion and move on. I figure the best thing I can do…
“You know what gives me hope? A few get uncomfortable and apologize in the same breath they refuse to let me treat them. You see it’s a hell of a hard thing to maintain that level of hate face to face.”
Choo’s tweets went viral. Among those who took notice was Chelsea Clinton.
Thank you @choo_ek for sharing this and even more for the care you provide all your patients, including those who walk away. Thread: https://t.co/HvJayEbrdK
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) August 15, 2017
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RE: The White Supremacists who Refused to be Treated by an Asian American Doctor: if he’s happens to also be in the Philippines, then he must wait for a white doctor ???