Injustice in health is inhuman – Martin Luther King Jr.

January 17, 2025

In March of 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. said this at a press conference before the 2nd convention of the Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR).

“We are concerned about the constant use of federal funds to support this most notorious expression of segregation. Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death. I see no alternative to direct action and creative nonviolence to raise the conscience of the nation.”

The MCHR, along with Dr. King, called for doctors and hospitals to comply with the Civil Rights Act and accused the American Medical Association of a “conspiracy of inaction” in civil rights.

With the United States still seemingly far from action regarding any semblance of universal health care in the country, it remains to be seen if this quote will continue to remain true today and into the future as it did almost 60 years ago. Or maybe it will become a faint reminder of a past, “great” America that once was, overshadowed by a newly-instituted accessible healthcare for all.

Around 60 years after Dr. King said those words, my mom slowly walked into a clinic to see why her vision was impaired. Or was it weakness on one side of her body. I forget now. The doctor recommended that she stay for further observation, but she refused, saying she didn’t have the money to cover it. She drove home. Just as she parked into our driveway, she urinated on the driver’s seat and had a stroke.

After having lived and seen doctors in the US and the Philippines where healthcare is reserved for those with jobs and money, and in the UK where healthcare is universal, it got me wondering.

I wondered if had she received reminders for free annual health check ups by our local hospital, would she have caught her diabetes and hypertension earlier on?

I wondered if just 1% of the billions that go into fast food advertising had gone to public service announcements on TV and billboards about healthy eating, would my mom still be alive today?

I wondered if the public school systems she and I grew up in (in the Philippines and the United States respectively) provided free, well-balanced school lunches for all children, would she have saved money, or cooked better food for us – and I would not have been bullied as a “fat” kid in school?

I wonder sometimes if Martin Luther King’s Dream for everyone also included free health care – regardless of where one was born. Maybe free, healthy, veggies for school children at the very least? I’m sure it did. That’s the nice thing about dreams. They can include and involve anything and everything. The hard part is making them come true.

What’s unfortunate is that sometimes our nightmares seem closer to reality. When will we wake up?