An angry letter I'll never send

An unsent letter complaining about failed attempts by an institution at being inclusive and retaining a diverse student body...

Dear, any and all institutional representatives,

I hope this letter finds you as well as your disappointing inclusion strategies have found me.

I'm invisible in this institution's eyes. Day after day I witness how those institutional values fall on their face. All that’s left after the dust settles is mere preaching on diversity and inclusivity. Let it be known that once I gained consciousness as a child, I started wedging myself into society. The struggle was arduous, constant, so much so that I chose to stop when I entered my twenties. However, after entering this institution, I’m seeing myself regress.

You say health sciences fields struggle to attend to the necessities and disparities of racial, ethnic, sexual, gender minorities, and more. You say that having health workers that belong to said minorities would improve the situation. Well, you know what? I hope you don't advertise yourself to my kind. Putting up posters filled with lies. I hope I'm around to tell my kind, 

“Careful, you'll be tokenized! Professors will speak of and above, never at you. You, the specimen they include through their indifference to people's differences. Their inclusivity is ignoring diversity.”

To you, we are all equal, all cookie cutter students. One gender, one language, one skin color, one, one, one! The clearest reflection of what's plagued science for millennia and still…

I’ve found my calling in this field. But be warned, I exist here for myself, my kind, and the disadvantaged! After years of trying to fit in I wish to stick out. I want to be seen as different. I want to attend those as diverse as me. I must turn this field into my home, as much as the men in it have. Talk at me, not of me.

Look! At! Me!

Only then, will I be of most help to this institution and my country. Only then, you'll realize that my strength and softness is for absolutely all of you.

Sincerely,

A frustrated student.

--

Amadeus the Loveless

April 5, 2023

Author's Note

Hello all! First and foremost, thank you for reading me. I'm in an odd spot where I can't voice my frustration in real life just yet. I have to let myself cool off before I express my disappointment with anyone. People like me have been tokenized and had embarrassing stories about them told by my professors again and again like urban legends. And then, the institution has the gall to wonder why they cannot reclute or retain diverse staff and students.

I loathe seeing how disadvantaged folks get dehumanized in the health sciences field, and I wish to be a drop of change in that ocean.

Suggestions are welcome and thank you again for reading me! :)

Amadeus x