The medical profession has succumbed to the notion that it is plagued by “systemic racism.” Those pushing this idea are making a large bet with potentially lethal consequences. Public and private research funding is being redirected from basic science to political projects aimed at “dismantling white supremacy” in medicine. The result will be declining quality of medical care and slowing scientific progress.

Virtually every major medical organization—from the American Medical Association and the American Association of Medical Colleges to the American Association of Pediatrics—has embraced the idea that medicine is shot through with racism and inequity. The AMA’s 2021 Organizational Strategic Plan to Embed Racial Justice and Advance Health Equity is a thicket of social-justice nostrums: Physicians must “confront inequities and dismantle white supremacy, racism, and other forms of exclusion and structured oppression, as well as embed racial justice and advance equity within and across all aspects of health systems.”