1/ I was young when my mom, an OB-Gyn, talked to me about her sadness, seeing all these beautiful perfect children she helped guide into the world, yet seeing them side by side in their bassinet at the hospital and knowing, just because of the concentration of…
2/ melanin in their skin and how people would perceive them, that some would already have a much harder road ahead.
As I grew, I was often unaware of my own white privilege. I struggled with my own battles, not aware of the tail wind pushing me ahead in life, compared to my
As I grew, I was often unaware of my own white privilege. I struggled with my own battles, not aware of the tail wind pushing me ahead in life, compared to my
3/ peers who always had to fight a head wind of racism.
As a young doctor in the Emergency Department, I remember noticing the glaring lack of health equity. In one emergency department the halls were lined with patients, usually poor and usually Black or Latino, stacking the
As a young doctor in the Emergency Department, I remember noticing the glaring lack of health equity. In one emergency department the halls were lined with patients, usually poor and usually Black or Latino, stacking the
3/ peers who always had to fight a head wind of racism.
As a young doctor in the Emergency Department, I remember noticing the glaring lack of health equity. In one emergency department the halls were lined with patients, usually poor and usually Black or Latino, stacking the
As a young doctor in the Emergency Department, I remember noticing the glaring lack of health equity. In one emergency department the halls were lined with patients, usually poor and usually Black or Latino, stacking the
4/ hallways waiting hours or even days for simple, life-saving treatments, while just down the road, beautiful penthouse-like rooms sat empty awaiting the next “interesting case,” who often would be white and well connected. I learned that this is one of the many ways in which
5/ centuries of discrimination and different access to resources shows up in the health system, and in people’s health. And these inequities keep showing up – including, right now, in very different rates of COVID infection and death by race and ethnicity across the country,
6/ in very different access to care, and in the brutal murder of George Floyd, of Breonna Taylor, of so many others.
I was initially silent on George Floyd’s murder, as I worked on other issues of health. I was busy being your Chief Medical Officer, yes,
I was initially silent on George Floyd’s murder, as I worked on other issues of health. I was busy being your Chief Medical Officer, yes,
7/ busy dealing with the pandemic. But also, silence is something my privilege allows, and I don’t want that allowance. Systemic racism is a public health issue, and as a public health practitioner, I have to name it so that I –
8/ so that we, as a state and as a nation – can move beyond it.
Today, as George Floyd is laid to rest - I pause - to remember him, to think of his family and think of our county, increasingly overwhelmed by this pandemic and generational racism.
Today, as George Floyd is laid to rest - I pause - to remember him, to think of his family and think of our county, increasingly overwhelmed by this pandemic and generational racism.
9/ And today I think back to that nursery of infants of every color and the hope of a new day. It is a new day we *can* create if we address the root problems and work to overcome them. A better future is possible for those infants, for all of us.
10/ As Martin Luther King said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
