'A Heaviness of Existing': Gayles Discusses Navigating Life

'A Heaviness of Existing': Gayles Discusses Navigating Life with Weight of Racism


Montgomery County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles. Via Montgomery County, MD Flickr.
“For my colleagues who don’t look like me, let me explain it to you.”
During a virtual discussion about health, racial justice and COVID-19 with Montgomery College President Dr. DeRionne Pollard, County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles discussed how racism impacts the way he moves through life.
“I think of examples when I go into meetings, I am not only having to be present to talk about the business at hand, but I also am very careful to monitor my body language, my tone,” Gayles said. “Because I am recognizing I am under a microscope and don’t want to be perceived as angry, or hostile or arrogant based upon the comments in terms of how people perceive me and how they view me.” During Gayles’ senior year of college, he had a Black professor who described ontological fatigue, or a “heaviness of existing” that came with being a Black professor at a predominantly white college. He likened it to his own experience as the county’s health officer.

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