A colleague of mine once asked me a question that haunts me to this day: “If you care about social justice this much, why are you in medical school?” I was stunned, and I had no response to offer them. That day, I walked away to preserve my peace, but …
Recently in Minneapolis, George Floyd was killed by Officer Derek Chauvin, who held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, including almost three minutes after Floyd was unresponsive. This senseless murder is now added to an already long…
Coronavirus has overwhelmed hospitals, staff, and supply chains, stripped many Americans of health care coverage along with their jobs, and affected billions of people worldwide with mounting fatalities. Despite its massive human toll, the pandemic off…
Strangulation and traumatic asphyxia. Not even a few days ago, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, that is what likely killed George Floyd. Later, they decided it was neither and instead of corroborating what America watched an officer d…
Medical students across the country, such as myself, are struggling to come to terms with the pandemic. The most affected of this group is the current fourth years, trying to embark on their journey of picking a specialty and finding a residency positi…
Six years ago, Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson, MO, igniting the White Coats For Black Lives movement. I was a medical student at the time. As we prepared for a die-in in protest of Michael Brown’s death and the officer’s acquittal, my medical s…
On May 25, 2020, the world was already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic with a lockdown with no end in sight, when a video taken on a bystander’s cellphone went viral of a man being arrested by several police officers, put on the road in a prone posi…
Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd. We speak their names out when they no longer can. As a medical student, I have learned and recognized the many prejudices underlying our healthcare system against persons of color. Racism runs rampant in hos…
Health care workers need to start talking about white people killing black people, and here’s why: every victim of racial violence will be seen by a health care professional at or near the time of the event. We in the health care community are often th…
Over the past two months, health professionals and community advocates have brought to the fore of national attention what has been the lived experience of many within black and brown communities for ages — racism kills. The substrate of structural rac…
