Oakland , CA - NAAFA is appalled at the negative reaction across the U.S. to President Obama's nominee for Surgeon General. Despite exceptional qualifications, the criticism focuses on her weight!
Dr. Regina Benjamin is an African-American woman who graduated from Xavier University , studied medicine at the University of Alabama and Morehouse School of Medicine and received her MBA from Tulane. She built a thriving family practice clinic in Alabama in the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina by moonlighting in emergency rooms. She has been featured as the "Person of the Week" on ABC Television News, CBS "This Morning" chose her as the "Woman of the Year," she is a former Kellogg National Fellow, a winner of the Mandela Award and was chosen as a MacArthur Fellow in 2008. The American Medical Association was so impressed with Dr. Benjamin that she was the first African-American woman and the first person under 40 years of age to be elected to the AMA's Board of Trustees. She currently serves as the President of the Medical Association of Alabama .
Rather than saluting her achievements the media & opponents are criticizing Dr. Benjamin for her size. The preoccupation with the "War on Obesity" must not be turned into a war on one extremely talented, proficient woman. America needs the best of the best to lead it through these difficult times and Dr Benjamin is one of those people.
NAAFA will take this message to the Hill on August 3rd as an example of what larger Americans, including our own new Surgeon General nominee, face every day in healthcare settings, in the workplace and in the classroom.
NAAFA urges Americans to join us and put aside its size bias and focus on the strengths & qualifications of Dr. Benjamin, to begin the process of building a new America free of Size Discrimination!
Founded in 1969, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) is a non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to ending size discrimination in all of its forms. NAAFA's goal is to help build a society in which people of every size are accepted with dignity and equality in all aspects of life. NAAFA will pursue this goal through advocacy, public education, and support.
On the web:
http://www.naafa.org For more information contact:
Peggy Howell, Public Relations Director,
NAAFA email: naafa_pr{at}yahoo.com
phone: (707)246-6116
