White Coats and Black Lives: Medical Professionals Rally at Statehouse for Racial Justice

Before the June 20 rally at the Capitol steps could begin, there were a few orders of business: First, everyone should maintain adequate social distance, at least six feet; secondly, face masks would be required. Volunteers handed out bottled water and spare face masks at the periphery. Then, emcee Andrea Christopher M.D. delivered her thesis.

"We are not going to undo centuries of racism in a heartbeat. ... This work is long, and this work is hard," she said. "We are here because racism is a pandemic."

Christopher is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington and the medical student clerkship site director for the Boise VA. She is also a person of color and a student of how social issues bear on the practice of medicine. As COVID-19 has ravaged the United States—the death toll has now exceeded 120,000 people—it has devastated Black, Indigenous and other communities of color disproportionately, and through her own remarks and the people she brought to the podium, Christopher sought to highlight the ways systemic racism affects both sides of the proverbial doctor-patient relationship.

Among them was Dr. Ty Waters, who discussed some of the ways in which overt and covert racism have impacted his medical studies and practice. He described instances in which he has been confused for a thermostat repairman despite his white coat and credentials, when a grandmother couldn't conceive of a black man delivering a baby, and the experiences of being consistently misidentified or being called the N-word by patients while on duty.

Read more: https://www.idahopress.com/boiseweekly/news/citydesk/white-coats-and-black-lives-medical-professionals-rally-at-statehouse-for-racial-justice/article_5cc3714e-12b8-5f1f-91ff-06ee61aed131.html