The Curious Case of Paulo Serodio
Last week, Paulo Serodio filed a case against a New Jersey medical school for improperly suspending him. Mr. Serodio was born in Mozambique and moved to the US and became a citizen. He claims he was suspended from the school because people objected to him, when asked to identify his ethnicity, calling himself an African American.
In two classes, Mr. Serodio was asked to identify his ethnicity or “cultural identity,” he did so, and then was punished because his teachers and fellow students did not like his response. He wrote an article in the school newspaper, explaining his viewpoint. In response, he was told by the school administration that his free speech rights were revoked.
Mr. Serodio, you see, is white. He is from Africa. He is an American. But, in the world in which we live, he is not allowed to call himself an “African American.”
What confuses and angers me about this is manifold:
First, Serodio is, as I said, from Africa, and he’s an American. skin color has nothing to do with any of that. Indeed many Africans are not black. The entire northern half of Africa is populated by Arabs. The southern tip is populated by Dutch settlers who’ve been there for centuries. But only in America do we redefine words to calm the sensitivities of the easily offended.
Second, what the hell does any of this have to do with becoming a doctor? I have had several doctors, and some have had good bedside manner, others have had good clinical skills and still others have had good business judgment. I have never cared about their race, or what they perceive their race to be.
Third, this is wonderful contrast to those idiots who call Nelson Mandella an “African American.” (Hint, he’s not an American, dumb ass.) Or to those who call people like Bob Marley an African American (he’s neither African nor American, he’s Jamaican.)
Finally, what kind of idiots suspend or expell a med student because of something this assinine? Not to mention, they specifically told him he could not publicly defend himself or speak out in any public forum. No doubt, these are the same mental giants who rushed to the ACLU saying their “rights” were infringed by someone else’s free speech.