“I don’t get angry or upset, just incredulous over the psychology of it.”
An Asian American emergency doctor has shared her experience in dealing with white supremacists.
Esther Choo shared her experience on Twitter about white nationalist casualties resulting from nationalist rallies across the US.
The emergency physician said there were a great deal of white nationalists in Oregon, where she works.
“A few times a year, a patient in the ER refuses treatment from me because of my race,” she wrote. “I don’t get angry or upset, just incredulous over the psychology of it.”
Dr Choo said she would tell patients, “I understand your viewpoint. I trained at elite institutions and have been practising for 15 years. You are welcome to refuse care under my hands, but I feel confident that I am the most qualified to care for you.”
She added that those in care would either leave, refuse treatment from her or “invariably pick the intern, as long as they are white.”
The doctor said she finds it “breathtaking” that people were so committed to white supremacy that they would bet their lives on it.
Nonetheless, Dr Choo chooses compassion over hatred. “I just show compassion and move on,” she said. “I figure the best thing I can do is make sure their hate finds no purchase here.”
Dr Choo’s Twitter thread has been shared more than 15,000 times online.
Her thread follows a weekend of violent rallies held in the US where a number of white supremacists, Neo-Nazis and alt-right nationalists protested against the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee. The protest quickly descended into violence, resulting in the death of 32 year old Heather Heyer.
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