Historians are familiar with Dr. Wright's name: he was a leading medical practitioner in Detroit, and a strong voice in the civil rights movement. And, as an African-American, he opposed what he called the "federal encroachment on private practice of medicine" - that is, he opposed the types of programs which are being forced onto the American public, against the will of the voters, by Senator Harry Reid, Congresswoman Pelosi, and President Obama.
Dr. Wright saw the government's attempt to regulate, manage, and fund the health care system as the direct result of racism. He argued that those who desired the government to limit the freedom of both patients and medical professionals would not desire such intervention if society and the medical system were free of racism: federal control of health care was desired to counteract the effects of unjust discrimination.
In an open and published letter to the AMA, Dr. Wright urged the organization to direct its attention to the issue of equality in the medical system. Achievement of racial equality, he concluded, would bring the additional benefit of ending legislative attempts to allow the federal government to control both patients and medical professionals: the blossoming of civil rights "will make the government's efforts unattractive and unnecessary" in Wright's words.
As an African-American, Dr. Wright worked for the civil rights of citizens to vote, to speak freely, and to exercise their economic choices; as a physician, he worked for the rights of patients and health care professionals to make decisions without government regulation or management.
