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A Few Thoughts for the Times :

June 11, 2020

“I can’t breathe.” Three small words with huge meaning for all of us. The sheer horror of bearing witness to the murder of George Floyd, a black man, at the knee of a white police officer, left each of us and a nation traumatized. Heartfelt condolences to Mr. Floyd’s family can hardly begin to express our shared grief and shock.

“I can’t breathe.” Three small words with huge meaning for all of us. The sheer horror of bearing witness to the murder of George Floyd, a black man, at the knee of a white police officer, left each of us and a nation traumatized. Heartfelt condolences to Mr. Floyd’s family can hardly begin to express our shared grief and shock.

Even when we try to comprehend what led to this event, explanations fail us. Structural racism, defined over a decade ago as “… the normalization and legitimization of an array of dynamics – historical, cultural, institutional and interpersonal – that routinely advantage whites while producing cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for people of color…”1 continues to exist despite acknowledgement of its devastating impact. Initiatives to reform societal institutions, including law enforcement, seem to be proceeding as slowly as an inchworm making its way through a tree, or even a whole forest.

I believe we need to go beyond feeling angry and ineffective, and beyond feeling sad and disconnected. What can you or I do?

We can vote and encourage others to vote. Several public figures have pointed out the power of the ballot box. Begin voter registration at your practice, whether it is a community-based, hospital-based or a stand-alone setting. Not everyone knows how simple it is to register to vote or has found the time to register. Some minor infrastructure is needed to operationalize this at your practice, including a staff member or volunteer who is confident with filling out the form and a designee (this could be you) who is committed to delivering completed registrations to the local Board of Elections (which has an after-hours drop box). For starters and tips, see the USA.gov site.

Read and share what you are reading. The AAP has a highly relevant current policy statement on the impact of racism on child health2, and Pediatrics recently released a topical commentary on implicit bias.3 A public letter penned by Mr. Lee Pelton, a black man and President of Emerson College, is a powerful, personal and passionate statement about Mr. Floyd’s death, which he describes as a “legalized lynching.”4 President Pelton’s explicit words make us flinch, but his honesty and perspective are conversation starters. Talk with colleagues and friends and family, text with those who prefer brevity, and sit down as a group at work.

Self-reflection is essential. For many, including myself, this is hard, because our conscious self believes we are doing everything we can to mitigate racial bias and practice cultural humility. An excellent free course on implicit bias, meaning unconscious bias, gives a path forward that fits into small bites of time, and may be a way to jumpstart our conversation with ourselves. By acknowledging the existence of bias, one may find ways to change that were not evident previously.

Finally, I turn to Mahatma Gandhi, whose wisdom I find inspiring, ageless and uniquely timely (revised only for gender inclusiveness): “We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man [person] changes his/her own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him [that person]. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”5 I can only think that Gandhi must have been talking about this time in our lives and in our society.

References

  1. Lawrence K and Keleher T. Structural Racism. For the Race and Public Policy Conference 2004. http://www.intergroupresources.com/rc/Definitions%20of%20Racism.pdf
  2. Trent M, Dooley D, Douge J. The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health. Pediatrics. 2019, 144(2). https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/144/2/e20191765
  3. Raphael JL and Oyeku SO. Implicit Bias in Pediatrics: An Emerging Focus in Health Equity Research. Pediatrics. 2020; 145 (5) e20200512; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-0512 https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/145/5/e20200512
  4. Pelton, L. Business Insider. June 2, 2020. https://www.businessinsider.com/emerson-president-calls-george-floyds-death-police-brutality-legalized-lynching-2020-6
  5. The Collected Works of M.K. Gandhi; The Publications Division: New Delhi, India, 1960; Volume 13, Chapter 153; p. 241.
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