White Coats for Black Lives
At 11:00am this morning, Friday June 5th, 2020, healthcare professionals from the University of Utah, along with countless others across the country, chose to demonstrate their commitment to improve the health and safety of people of color by kneeling together in silence for 8 minutes.
We are dismayed, saddened, and angered by the abhorrent killing of George Floyd, which has served as yet another reminder of the racism, deep divisions and injustices that persist in our country. At a time when the nation should be unified in fighting an invisible external threat, COVID 19, it is especially painful to be reminded of the insidious internal threats of racism, exclusion, and inequity. There is no herd immunity to such threats, so we must continue to work at eradicating them from our hearts and our communities. We all come from different cultural and political experiences but we share the belief that the lives of our Black/African American students, faculty, staff, and community members matter deeply to our practice, our College, our University.
All of us were drawn to the College of Pharmacy because we believe in the imperative of caring for and healing everyone in need. Racism, hatred, and exclusion are anathema to our identity and mission. Now, more than ever before, we need to stand for equity, inclusion, and justice so we can help support true healing for our community and our country.
