Thread by @javeedsukhera

Symbolic solidarity or virtue signaling? Major paper alert on #antiracism in #meded 🚨🚨🚨

journals.lww.com/academicmedici…

Led by @allison_brown99 and with a stellar team of coauthors @auguste_emma912 F Omobhude and N Bakana

We sought to examine the initial statements published by academic medical organizations in response to societal concerns about systemic, anti-Black racism.

Through discourse analysis of statements from US and Canadian medical schools and academic organizations we learned:

There was

tension between what was explicit v implied. a lack of critical reflection

lack of commitment to institutional accountability to specifically address anti-Black racism

Academia expressed “shock” about racism that was hardly shocking for many communities

Not all of the statements analyzed included an image. Of those that did, the most common images were photos of smiling deans, all of whom appeared to us to be visibly white.

A linguistic inquiry and word count analysis demonstrated that statements used formal and analytical language and often reflected hierarchical thinking. Language was guarded and distanced.

Racism tended to be framed as primarily interpersonal and external to the institution, seemingly absolving the organization of structural culpability in maintaining or reinforcing racism.

While nearly half emphasized “solidarity” only 4 explicitly affirmed support for the #blacklivesmatter movement, one of which was an HBCU.

Canadian statements tended to name US examples of racist violence while ignoring racism in Canada. However, 2 Canadian statements specifically mentioned Regis Korchinski-Paquet.

Many statements were self congratulatory rather humble and introspective. They highlighted past awards or achievements rather than tangible future commitments to power and policy change.

Our finding on the lack of critical introspection is concerning and calls institutional commitments to address racism into question. Ultimately actions speak louder than words. Help share spread and hold academic medicine accountable. Feel free to tag others on this thread…