According to a story released in November by Yahoo News’s The Ticket, Presidential Candidate Herman Cain and before driving his sinking campaign to the bottom of his scandalous pool revealed to a crowd in Florida his fear when he found out that a surgeon he once saw during chemotherapy was named “Dr. Abudullah.”
“I said to his physician assistant, that sounds foreign”, Cain told his gathering supporters. “Not that I had anything against foreign doctors–but it sounded too foreign. “She said, ‘He’s from Lebanon.’ Oh, Lebanon! My mind immediately started thinking, ‘Wait a minute, maybe his religious persuasion is different than mine!”
Now, most of you who know me, and know how serious I am about not involving NAAMA in politics would wonder why now in my blog before last. But the point to be made is not political. Regardless how deplorable Cain is, and how bigoted his remarks are, it is more deplorable that such statement went so unnoticed and without a peep as if it was an accepted fact. Even entities that usually deal with discrimination did not bother to comment. Not even the AMA.
It is occasions like these where the value of NAAMA becomes more palpable and vital. If you happen to be a “Foreign Sounding Name” health professional, it does not matter if you are born and raised here or what your religious affiliation is. To people with Cain’s mentality, you are an easy prey to pick on, and a fair game since no one will bother to say “shame on you”!
But with a strong NAAMA, both in presence and size, Cain and others like him would think twice about the consequences of such words, because Arab American Doctors do vote as well.
We pride ourselves at NAAMA that we do not take sides, and we do not get into politics. But when it comes to doubting our role as healers and questioning our place as citizens contributing to the betterment of mankind because of a “foreign sounding name”, then in my opinion, NAAMA should be the first to shout “SHAME ON YOU, Mr. Cain !”.
For those of you who like to know how the story ends. Here is Cain’s version of a happy ending: “She (the physician assistant) could see the look on my face and she said, ‘Don’t worry, Mr. Cain, Dr. Abudullah is a Christian from Lebanon.’”
So my question to you is: “Are you still wondering why you should join NAAMA?”
If interested in reading the full Cain story please follow this link: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/herman-cain-holy-land-experience-130621445.html
