“National data said it wasn’t just our imagination or where we sat. I soon learned that though Blacks and Whites each made up a third of the kidney transplant waiting list at that time, Whites received every other donated kidney and Blacks received every fifth one, which meant that on average, Blacks waited nearly two years longer than Whites for a kidney transplant. As a primary care doctor at the time, not aware of the realities of nephrology, I didn’t know that two years could mean never having to be on dialysis at all. That two years could be the difference between surviving in body and spirit. Or not.”