Are We Really Prepared to Be Anti-Racists?
RACISM AS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS
By Maame Yaa A. B. Yiadom, MD, MPH, MSCI, Italo M. Brown, MD, and Christopher L. Bennett, MD, MA on behalf of the SAEM Equity and Inclusion Committee
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On June 10, 2020, various emergency medicine groups participated in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Shut Down (#ShutDownAcademia). Academic meetings, conferences, and calls were canceled as a pause in our consciousness intended to advance our understanding and educate ourselves on 1.) the persistence of racism, 2.) sources of inequality, and 3.) remedies for ineffective government and organizational responses. From our reflection we find being a “nonracist” is a response that is good, but not good enough. A challenge in our current society is that there are too few “anti-racist.” This applies to many of the other “isms” (sexism, antisemitism, homophobism, xenophobism, etc.) that we struggle with in our diverse country. The reality is that being an anti-racist is tough, and at times risky. It means speaking up when we see people treated differently, in ways that are unfair and negatively affect their life
“Medicine is a conservative community where we tend to be risk averse, yet our world and local communities will not improve until those of us with influence lead by example.” opportunities and outcomes. It calls us to say something when people are excluded because it is uncomfortable to include them. It compels us to step back and listen to the details from all sides of any conflict knowing there is bias in how conflict is framed and reported. It encourages us to be uneasy until we address situations where people are disciplined unjustly
with evidence that bends the truth, exaggerates significance, or uses fabricated information. We see egregious examples of racism in the news which are easy to call out as there are elements of clear ill-will and expressions of dehumanizing fear. At the heart of these issues is conscious and unconscious biases that present themselves in less blatant
