Achieving Racial Equity Within Medical Institutions: An Appeal for Action

Abstract

In late May 2020, a global outpouring of grief and rage swept our world as news emerged that George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in police custody, was publicly murdered on a busy street in Minneapolis. The cruel and casual disregard for Mr Floyd’s humanity as he cried for his mother has since haunted our public conscience, shattering widely held perceptions of a color-blind, post-racial era. Intractable structural racism—the sum of interwoven social policies, institutional practices, and cultural norms that systematically discriminate against persons of color1—continues to exact a terrible toll in all areas of our lives: the criminal justice system and mass incarceration, housing, education, food security, transportation, and indeed health care.