The whitest profession

Last summer I met my first Black veterinarian.

I was accompanying my wife’s colleague to a veterinary conference in North Carolina and we sat down for lunch with a group of other animal doctors. One of them happened to be African American.

What’s remarkable about this first-time encounter is that I’m the son and husband of veterinarians. I’ve spent my entire life surrounded by animal doctors. I’ve attended countless veterinary reunions, conferences and informal get-togethers with my parents and spouse. But before 2022, I had never met a Black, Asian or Hispanic vet. Every veterinarian I had ever known was white.

When my dad graduated from University of Illinois’ vet school in 1960, his class was entirely white. When my wife graduated from the same college in 2001, she too didn’t have any Black classmates.

In 2016, 2.1% of the nation’s veterinarians were Black. By 2019, the number had dropped below 1%, Time magazine reported.

Veterinary medicine has been called the “whitest profession.” That’s a sad but accurate depiction.

Veterinary and human medical schools are extraordinarily difficult to gain admission to. Some unsuccessful candidates for American programs resort to studying in the Caribbean or elsewhere overseas.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, such as the vet school at Tuskegee or the medical schools at Howard, Meharry or Morehouse universities, are largely responsible for fostering diversity within those professions.

In fact, Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine has educated more than 70% of the nation’s African-American veterinarians. It is recognized as the most diverse of all colleges of veterinary medicine in the U.S.

It’s no secret that many historically Black colleges are struggling. Just last year, Lincoln College closed after 157 years of service. HBCUs are special places that provide unique nurturing and leadership opportunities.

But last month, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a body blow to places like Tuskegee and other HBCUs.

The high court said that race can no longer be considered a factor in university admissions. I’m left wondering what that means for highly selective programs at historically Black universities?

If whites wanting to be physicians or veterinarians are willing to travel to other countries to attain their degrees, they certainly aren’t going to be shy about applying to a HBCU in the United States.

It is very possible that the vet school at Tuskegee will become as white as every other veterinary program in the nation. Much the same could be said for the nation’s four HBCU medical schools.

HBCUs primarily exist to provide opportunities to students of color. That’s why generations of donors have sacrificed to support these institutions. To now say that they need to be blind to race in their admissions is not just wrong, but absurd.

Unfortunately, we live in a society that does not provide equal opportunity. Kids growing up in rural poverty or in the inner city often do not have access to the same quality schools that those in the suburbs do.

There needs to be some way of leveling the field. HBCUs have done a good job of helping do just that. Why undermine their reason for being?

After all, a profession should look like the people it serves.

Also, when children don’t see someone who looks like them doing a particular job, they are likely to discount it as a career option for themselves.

In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, one has to ask, what hope is there for greater diversity?

Will the whitest profession become even whiter?

This article appears in Revitalizing Robin Roberts Stadium.