I arrived in the US from Kingston, Jamaica
in the summer of '68.

My family of six crammed into a small,
two-bedroom apartment

in a three-story walkup in Brooklyn.

The block had several children --

some spoke Spanish,

some spoke English.

Initially, I wasn't allowed
to play with them

because my parents said, 
"Them too rambunctious" --

(Laughter)

so I could only watch them from my window.

Rollerskating was one of their
favorite activities.

They loved hitching a ride
at the back of the city bus,

letting go of the rear bumper

as the bus arrived
at the bottom of the block

right in front of my building.

One day there was a new girl with them.

I heard the usual squeals of laughter
interspersed with, "Mira, mira!

Mira, mira!"

Spanish for, "Look, look!"

The group grabbed onto the back
of the bus at the top of the block,

and as they rolled down laughing
and screaming, "Mira, mira, mira"

the bus abruptly stopped.

The experienced riders adjusted
and quickly let go,

but the new girl lurched back
and fell onto the pavement.

She didn't move.

The adults outside ran to help her.

The bus driver came out to see
what had happened

and call for an ambulance.

There was blood coming from her head.

She didn't open her eyes.

We waited for the ambulance,

and waited,

and never once said, "Where is
the ambulance?

Where is the ambulance?"

The police finally arrived.

An older black American said,
"Ain't no ambulance coming."

He said it again loudly to the cop:

"You know ain't no ambulance coming.

They never send no ambulance here."

The cop looked at my neighbors
who were getting frustrated,

lifted the girl into the patrol car

and left.

I was 10 years old at the time.

I knew this wasn't right.

I knew that there was something
more we could do.

Something I could do was become a doctor.

I became an internest

and committed my career to caring
for those we often call the underserved,

the vulnerable,

like those neighbors I had
when I first immigrated to America.

During my early training years
in Harlem in the 80's,

I saw a shocking increase
in young men with HIV.