Some minority men are great with communicating with a health professional who is likely a different race or nationality then themselves. They can hear the advice and walk away confident that their needs have been considered without prejudice.

But a lot dont’ feel that way. They walk out feeling sure that the white guy next to them in the waiting room with the same situation would have gotten better treatment. Somewhere in their legacy they know someone who hadn’t been treated decently and consider it to be a real possibility.

But a test! A test doesn’t discriminate. A test doesn’t blow a minority guy off and dispense treatment to the white guy. So that’s the thing to demand.

The authors aren’t telling men to go sit in a waiting room and trust that the fellow on the other end is not some extension of ‘the man’ ready to short minority men. They’re telling men to go and have a test – something that can be counted on to be color-blind. Until everyone in American feels, in their heart that care is color and need blind there will always be some who don’t respond to the messge without something objective in hand.