BLM Statement 06.2020
As a new platform for collaborative learning, we are still assembling the language on our website, and envisioning a future for Health Professional Master Class. However, we want to make our stance on human rights clear. Black Lives Matter. No, there is no justification for what happened to George Floyd, or Breonna Taylor, or Ahmoud Armory, or any of the other countless Black victims of police brutality and White supremacy. The reality is that there are many, many more innocent Black people in America who have died at the hands of White police officers, whose murders were silenced, whose families mourn, and whose killers have remained free. The reality is that all of us are at fault if we don’t continually act in ways to fight racism. ESPECIALLY as health professionals, we all need to act, and we need to look at ourselves to understand our own personal biases, before we go out and perpetuate the evils that exist in our society, and that exist in healthcare and education.
Think about your dermatology lectures- did you learn about what tinea corporis looks like on dark skin? What about in primary care- did you learn about the impact of constant vigilance on a person’s blood pressure and sleep quality? In women’s health- were you taught about the impact of allostatic load due to racism and how that leads to significantly higher infant mortality and prematurity rates among Black babies? As health professionals, we NEED to be aware of this and we need to fight it.
In the upcoming weeks, expect an invitation to learn and discuss racial health disparities and taking action with us. As three White women who founded Health Professional Master Class, we recognize our White privilege, and are committed to continually learning and taking action against individual and systemic racism. For us that means having discussions about the reality of Black health in America, and how to be a part of the solution with other White health professionals; learning and teaching using evidence-based research and resources from People of Color; and recruiting POC health professional speakers on our platform. It also means looking at different topics through a health justice lens- what disparities exist in this topic, and why? It means including non-White photos in our presentations, and being aware of the built-in racism that exists everywhere that we need to undo. It means continually learning about our own biases, sitting with the discomfort of recognizing our necessary internal work, and continually growing.
We are not color-blind and we are not here to gain approval or to ask a POC to do the work for us. We are dedicated to anti-racist action, not just to say “we aren’t racist” and pretend like we are an exception to the racism that pervades our society. The good news is that there are plenty of articles, documentaries, books, and other resources that can help us educate ourselves and take action. We will collect and share great resources on our website. And we welcome feedback. If we do something wrong, we will own up to it and change.
-Emily, Lauren, and Katie
As a new platform for collaborative learning, we are still assembling the language on our website, and envisioning a future for Health Professional Master Class. However, we want to make our stance on human rights clear. Black Lives Matter. No, there is no justification for what happened to George Floyd, or Breonna Taylor, or Ahmoud Armory, or any of the other countless Black victims of police brutality and White supremacy. The reality is that there are many, many more innocent Black people in America who have died at the hands of White police officers, whose murders were silenced, whose families mourn, and whose killers have remained free. The reality is that all of us are at fault if we don’t continually act in ways to fight racism. ESPECIALLY as health professionals, we all need to act, and we need to look at ourselves to understand our own personal biases, before we go out and perpetuate the evils that exist in our society, and that exist in healthcare and education.
Think about your dermatology lectures- did you learn about what tinea corporis looks like on dark skin? What about in primary care- did you learn about the impact of constant vigilance on a person’s blood pressure and sleep quality? In women’s health- were you taught about the impact of allostatic load due to racism and how that leads to significantly higher infant mortality and prematurity rates among Black babies? As health professionals, we NEED to be aware of this and we need to fight it.
In the upcoming weeks, expect an invitation to learn and discuss racial health disparities and taking action with us. As three White women who founded Health Professional Master Class, we recognize our White privilege, and are committed to continually learning and taking action against individual and systemic racism. For us that means having discussions about the reality of Black health in America, and how to be a part of the solution with other White health professionals; learning and teaching using evidence-based research and resources from People of Color; and recruiting POC health professional speakers on our platform. It also means looking at different topics through a health justice lens- what disparities exist in this topic, and why? It means including non-White photos in our presentations, and being aware of the built-in racism that exists everywhere that we need to undo. It means continually learning about our own biases, sitting with the discomfort of recognizing our necessary internal work, and continually growing.
We are not color-blind and we are not here to gain approval or to ask a POC to do the work for us. We are dedicated to anti-racist action, not just to say “we aren’t racist” and pretend like we are an exception to the racism that pervades our society. The good news is that there are plenty of articles, documentaries, books, and other resources that can help us educate ourselves and take action. We will collect and share great resources on our website. And we welcome feedback. If we do something wrong, we will own up to it and change.
-Emily, Lauren, and Katie
Resources:
- "Stolen Breaths:" www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2021072
- "100 ways you can take action against racism right now:" https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2020/05/29/george-floyd-death-donations-resources-justice-petitions/5282539002/
- Project Implicit (to learn about your own implicit biases): https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
- Watch the "13th" Documentary on Netflix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8
- "White Allyship 101: Resources to Get to Work:" https://www.dismantlecollective.org/resources/