This summer, the alleged forgery of a $20 bill led to the murder of George Floyd, a Black 46-year-old man, who died moments after a police officer knelt on his neck for over nine minutes. With his head crushed against the pavement, Floyd spent his last words crying desperately for help by saying, “I can’t breathe.”
Although Floyd’s death was one of the most high-profile murders at the hands of a white police officer, not all racism-fueled killings in America are documented through viral videos. Six weeks prior to Floyd’s death, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally (and wrongfully) shot in her Kentucky home during a no-warrant arrest as she slept.
But if these lives mattered, why has the long history of racial violence in the United States not come to an end yet?
In America, being murdered by the police is a leading cause of death for Black men, showing the dramatic impact of racialized law enforcement. Black men are 3.5 times more likely to be killed by the police compared to their white counterparts.
Unfortunately, physical assault is just one form of direct racial violence. Statistics show that Black Americans have higher COVID-19 death rates, compared to white, non-Hispanic persons.
Recently, some healthcare workers joined protests against police brutality because of a single yet important reason: it aligns with their profession’s mission. Particularly, Dr. Arjun Arya, a Minneapolis-based physician, voiced his support against racism by participating in local anti-racism demonstrations and providing medical care, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, to those who need it. For Arya, “Opposition to police brutality is about protecting human lives, the same principle that leads many to a career in medicine.”
Structural health inequities and limited access to healthcare are both forms of racial violence that are just as detrimental as police brutality. For instance, when compared to their white counterparts, Black women are 3 times more likely to die while giving birth. These high mortality rates are caused by the lack of prenatal care, increased rates of chronic conditions, and social determinants of health. However, most importantly, careless mishandling at the hands of racially biased professionals is a dangerous factor that contributes to the maternal mortality disparity as well as to the increased coronavirus mortality rates among Black people.
As a result, during the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing health inequalities, which result in a greater exposure to risk factors, as well as racism, are important public health matters. Recognizing that racism is also a public health issue is the first step towards solving the problem of unequal access to healthcare.
Acknowledging racism for what it is will never be enough; fighting against inaction, police brutality, and health inequities are necessary to ensure and protect the value of Black lives.