Quality Time

RISK

Episode #1008

Date November 26, 2018

Run Time 1:09:10

Leona Godin, Charlie Rucker, and Sam Blackman share stories about disabilities, an abortion fund, and a doctor’s first hospital experience.


Song: RISK! Theme by Wormburner and John Sondericker

Song: W18 (Club Edit) by Cassius

Live Story: The Blind Feeding the Lame by Leona Godin

Song: The Good Life by Tony Bennett

Live Story: Under Construction by Charlie Rucker

Song: Kya Baat Ay by Harrdy Sandhu

Live Story: Boundaries by Sam Blackman

Song: Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley

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Peter Neofotis
5 years ago

Terrific episode! All the stories were exceptional.

Christianne
5 years ago

I was very disappointed to hear Sam Blackman describe the bodies of his black women patients in such a way…especially as a medical professional whose patients are putting trust in him by being vulnerable in front of him in this way. And to hear the audience burst into laughter as he was describing their bodies was truly horrifying. Some women have big breasts. Skin is sometimes sweaty. What is funny about this? While I would never want to be reductive of what kind of connection he had with this patient, I felt very uncomfortable listening to a story about a medical professional giving preferential treatment to a patient in large part because he found her whiteness and thinness attractive and sympathetic in a way he had not yet found his (according to him) mostly large and black other patients. I know that Risk is uncensored, but please be mindful that you have a diverse audience listening to these stories. Really did not make me feel good.

Natalie Young
5 years ago

Sam Blackman’s rhapsodic tale of being enraptured by a jaundiced but still “very, very pretty” woman in his first job in the medical field is interesting. From first laying eyes on her to sticking around to meet and even interprete medical-ese for her parents, befriending her meant staying after work shifts all the way through the honor of being present at her moment of death. This patient stirred such human emotion for him that he cried on the side of the road, attended her funeral and stayed with her parents. That is a level of empathy and compassion and humanity surpassing what most of us can expect from any medical professional.
It’s far more than the detached, dehumanizing, ‘othering’ that the large Black women whose “pendulous breasts” are known universally to be such a chore to manage that the storyteller can play “losing his hands” under them as a laugh break.But nevermind those women, let’s return to those whose humanity REALLY matters…

Everyday, in ways large and small, in every field, from ‘good’ people and bad, there’s a way to treat Black’s less than

J
5 years ago

Dr. Sam’s story was touching and well told. I do have a takeaway that I assume is an unintentional message but you can hear it in his story nonetheless… Black people need black doctors. His description, his tone about his black patients is one that caused me concern, big black and sweaty. I knew Marybeth wasn’t black from his tone, there is a relatedness when he spoke of her that was obviously missing when he described the “typical” south side patients. I’m sure he’s a great doctor but black folks let’s go to med school so we can share the empathy that Dr. Sam automatically had with Marybeth. And no I am in no way call Dr. Sam a racist, you don’t work in the south side if you are just a disconnect.

Ezra
5 years ago

Thank you Christianne and J for speaking out! I was a bit triggered and wasn’t quite sure if it was valid. So, I came here to see if anyone else had some of the same thoughts. I was in the wrong headspace to hear the description and the reaction from the crowd. I felt a bit ill-prepared to here a sentiment that I already know all too well, nonetheless, I love the pod and I truly appreciate the vulnerability and risk that all the storytellers dealt with in order to share their stories.

Ellie
5 years ago

Sam Blackman’s gross comments on his ‘usual’ patients were really disturbing and racist. I guess maybe he felt he paid his dues and could talk like that? Idk. I stopped listening after that. I know one story doesn’t reflect the whole podcast, but there have been multiple stories lately from white people that careen into racist territory and language, and I’ve stopped listening as much. That was actually one of the first times in a while I tried listening… the first story was beautiful though, thank you for sharing that.

Natalie
5 years ago

Kevin, why isn’t my comment expressing the same sentiments as above shown here? It was the first. I’m disappointed in your censorship.

Sam Blackman
5 years ago

I just now read the comments, and I want to apologize for the offensive comments that I made during my story. They were insensitive and wrong, and I will take full responsibility for that and will not make excuses.

Pleas note the way I told this story in no way reflects the way that I believe I’ve treated patients throughout my career. I have always strived to treat everyone equally, and I believe, looking back, that I’ve mostly succeeded.

That said, I am sure that there have been times where I’ve failed (because I think it’s hard for white doctors or nurses to always be fully empathic to the experience of people of color), but I know that those failures were not intentional. They were due to lack of awareness or moments of ignorance on my part. In no way do I believe that by virtue of going to medical school or becoming a doctor am I entitled to offend when I tell a story.

I failed to anticipate and appreciate that my relating the recollections and thoughts from 30 years ago, in the way I did, would clearly be insensitive and demeaning to people of color, or people (men, women, transgendered) of different body types or shapes or sizes. I should have exercised far better judgement and discretion in my writing and relating the story, and again, I am sincerely sorry for that, and again I take responsibility for myself and will learn from this mistake and my poor judgement.

J
4 years ago

Kevin, I think now is a poignant time to revisit what happened on this episode with Dr. Sam Black (the irony). I’m one of the commenters above from 2018 and will say while I think this podcast is a great value add, I haven’t listened consistently since this episode.

I was just so disappointed by how, you wouldn’t be able to hear what your black listener clearly heard after one listen. It was like oh, even the most woke white person can’t see what we see.
As everyone begins there PR statements of not being racist please take the tome to reflect on how we all contribute. How this story was just another straw on the already heavy pile on Black folks backs. So please before we rush to proclaim our anti-racism, so some honest reflecting.

J
4 years ago

Thanks for responding and the background. I can read the genuineness in your words, that I appreciate. Editing the episode just seemed like an odd way to deal with the concern because the problem wasn’t that we heard them, the problem was that the lines were spoken. So now it’s a sanitized story where Sam still gets to talk about his love for the non-black patient without acknowledge out loud that he didn’t connect with his black patients in the same way. I, quite frankly, am such a fans of yours and have such a level of admiration that I took this harder than what makes sense. That’s not fair to you. You don’t owe me anything, so free yourself of that. I just found myself in a place that I think black people find themselves in a lot… my thoughts were “I love Kevin and he does great work so should I just give this incident a pass.” But even as I tried to continue listening, it just felt different. It’s like that quote “Death by a thousand paper cuts.” It’s not helpful to add to your burden now. So I’ll leave it at this- keep doing what you feel is right and I’ll do the same. Maybe I’ll find my way back.

J
4 years ago

Thanks for hearing me, Kevin. I’m not much of a creative talent but will definitely think about this opportunity. Be Well.

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