Elephants and Tea - December 2020 - 6

Practically speaking
ANTIRACIST SURVIVORSHIP ADVICE FROM AND FOR BIPOC PATIENTS.

BY C H R IS TA BE L K . C H EU NG , PH D

n May 26, 2020, mass uprisings against racism and police
brutality erupted after video footage capturing the violent
murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in police
custody, went viral. Protests began in Minneapolis, and
unfurled across the United States and globally - crying out,
" Black Lives Matter! " Response from all sectors of industry soon followed.
Among them, professional and patient advocacy organizations within
adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology have been rushing to develop
quick responses, and in many cases, are reaching out to AYA patients of
color for help with these public relations efforts.
Herein lies the problem. Racial minority AYA patients are being called
to work on organizational responses without compensation, during a
double pandemic of COVID-19 and uprisings against racism, in which
Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) are already disproportionately experiencing greater burdens. What's more, still-developing
young patients are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, as they are

ELEPHANTSANDTEA.COM
DECEMBER 2020

still learning to cope with and adapt to life after the traumatic disruption
of cancer and its often long-term sequelae. Yet, young BIPOC patients
are being asked to help predominantly white-led and white-serving
organizations to essentially serve as 'token' evidence that these organizations are, in fact, not racist.
Amidst this pandemonium-on-top-of-pandemic, we (BIPOC AYA
patients) declined opportunities to support such knee-jerk responses
from predominantly white organizations. We felt that these efforts
would not benefit, and may actually harm, racial-minority AYA patients.
Instead, my colleagues and I sought to present an authentic discussion
of the racial minority AYA cancer experience. We chose Elephants and
Tea Magazine to amplify our wisdom.
Practically speaking about antiracism in cancer care, here is the
advice we want to share with other racial minority AYA patients and
their cancer care providers. Let's get started by introducing our BIPOC
AYA experts.

http://www.elephantsandtea.com

Elephants and Tea - December 2020

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