By: Patrice Tully, PGY3, Academic Chief Resident, Emanate Health Family Medicine Residency
June 11, 2020 at Noon
The events of this year have shown us the interconnectedness of humanity, both nationally and globally.
Approaching the COVID pandemic, we became unified by fears for health and mortality, and the subsequent economic impact on the well-being families and communities.
Finally the conditions of a global pandemic, removed the common distractions of everyday life, and we found ourselves face unfiltered news and truth.
Technology has allowed all to see what has historically only been viewed first hand by and through the eyes of people of color, and most acutely by people of African descent.
Our collective horror at viewing moments of brutality and murder being captured, affords us all an opportunity to see the problems embedded in this nation, and forge a way forward to something better.
How we see the world is impacted by how we experience this world, which is shaped by how we are seen in this world.
And while the most recent national conversations can be uncomfortable, it is no more so, than the uncomfortable conversations generations of parents have initiated with their very young black sons and daughters about how to safely navigate this country, particularly when encountering law enforcement.
Racism suffered by Black communities has never existed in a vacuum. It was created and is buoyed by the same spirit that targets all those communities viewed as America’s newest immigrants, that aims at those not yet fluent in English, that seeks to limit all women’s opportunity for full and successful existence, and lengthens the ladder of economic opportunity that separates those striving toward the middle class from the wealthiest who hold increasingly disproportionate control of wealth and power.
A moment of solidarity, recognizes we are more connected than ever, and thus can share in the work to improve our world for the present and the future.
