Message from the Dean: Racial and Health Justice – Our Challenge
As the world watched, the verdict of murder was rendered against the police officer in the death of George Floyd. Our school has the immense responsibility to train the next generation of physicians. It is imperative that we recognize the systemic racism that exists and address this as a public health crisis.
Dear School of Medicine Colleagues,
As the world watched, the verdict of murder was rendered against the police officer in the death of George Floyd. As the jury was instructed by the prosecutor, “Believe your eyes and use common sense.” The power of a 17-year-old woman videotaping the more than 9-minute scene catalogued the event, a powerful tool as we all could ‘believe’ our eyes. And now this young woman lives with the burden of holding herself accountable for not doing more to save Mr. Floyd.
This trial and verdict are monumental for many reasons, not the least of which is that this is reportedly the first time ever a white policeman has been convicted in the death of a black man in Minnesota. We can hope that this represents an inflection point in our society’s introspection and accountability (unfortunately, we have heard/said this before). Just in the last few days, people younger than 18 have died being shot by police in Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio, and as we all know, those two cases don’t even remotely frame this immense epidemic in our country.
Our school has the immense responsibility to train the next generation of physicians. It is imperative that we recognize the systemic racism that exists and address this as a public health crisis. We are immersed in another public health crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic. However, I am comfortable that we not only are capable of being leaders in both, but also we must address both now!
It is our opportunity to continue these efforts, working diligently to address racism from a public health crisis perspective. I believe this is critical to our mission and the society in which we exist. I challenge each of us to work together to eliminate health inequities and to strive toward health and racial justice for all. We all can be leaders in these efforts.
This starts by being unaccepting of the violence that the George Floyd case framed, as well as the ecosystem of access to and affordability of health care, living conditions, infrastructure such as public transportation and internet access, food deserts, etc. We must ensure that these issues are always addressed in our training and our culture from the moment a student arrives to when they graduate. In the public health mission to address and eliminate racism and related factors, it is imperative that our graduates are prepared to lead this charge.
We can, and candidly, we must make a difference.
Stuart D. Flynn, M.D.
Dean