Race Differences in the Clinic.

Being a clinical assistant at a primary care pediatric clinic has let me see with my own eyes the differences between the races and how they manifest at different ages.

White children under age five can be just as rowdy as others, but it is less likely than with blacks or Hispanics. White children over the age of five are typically well-behaved and perform well in school

Many parents have no intention of learning English. They can rely on their children to interpret for them. Hispanic families cause few problems, but they are different from white people and bring an entirely different culture with them.

Black children nearly always seem older than their actual age. I have seen 12- and 14-year-old black kids who could pass for 18. Black children as young as five have defined muscles in their arms and legs that I do not see in white or Hispanic children. Teenage black boys who do not even play sports are muscular and can seem almost brutish. Black girls seem to have their first periods earlier than whites.

They have more problems than the two other groups: staggering amounts of obesity, single-mother households, large families, poverty, dependence on government; not to mention living in majority black areas, which retards development.

When I work with people of another race, there is something an uncrossable gap between us. It is not rooted in ignorance or animus. Even though I treat all patients the same I am more attached to my white patients.

Our society insists that everyone is exactly the same. I can say for a fact that the races are not the same, and that the differences are easily observable and extend beyond physical appearances. Ignoring racial differences is fatal to our nation.