Black Doc Sues UCLA, Cites Racist Treatment
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By Jenée Desmond-Harris for The Root
It’s no surprise that Dr. Christian Head’s account of being depicted as a gorilla sodomized by his white supervisor in a slideshow shown at a UCLA School of Medicine graduation “roast” has been the subject of national attention and outrage.
The African-American head-and-neck surgeon’s tale of over-the-top racism by the university went viral, thanks to a YouTube video chronicling the allegations and a Change.org petition calling on the UCLA Board of Regents to “end the racial discrimination and deplorable mistreatment” against Head.
But the worst part of the “gorilla slide,” as it’s described in an April 17 discrimination action filed on Head’s behalf against his supervisors and the Regents, is that, according to the 49-year-old doctor, it was merely one moment in a pattern of discrimination, harassment and humiliation by the UCLA School of Medicine that he says has lasted for years.
Read an interview with Dr. Head here.
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