Reprinted from the spring issue of The Ohio Family Physician
By: Abigail Lowther, MD, and Roma Amin, MD, Grant Family Medicine
The summer of 2020 saw the largest racial justice protests in America since the Civil Rights movement. Approximately 20 million of us demanded accountability from systems, including healthcare, that perpetuate discrimination against Black and brown bodies.1 The American Academy of Family Physicians declared racism a public health crisis. Important articles were published about the harms of race-based medicine. Healthcare systems across the country committed resources to improving diversity and inclusion within their organizations.
This period of time was declared the “Great Awakening.” The restraints of COVID forced us to pay attention to the inequities in our society. Without the constant hum of busy schedules, we were compelled to reckon with the pervasive anti-Black sentiment that plagues our nation. For the first time in decades, it appeared that white people were committed to dismantling the power structures that maintain systemic oppression in the United States.
Through these collective efforts, tangible progress has been made in some areas between the summer of 2020 and now. For example, the number of Black directors on corporate boards increased by 40% between 2019 and 2021.2 In other areas over the same time period, the voices declaring a new commitment to racial equity have faded away, while the voices of those who would like to turn back the clock on progress have become much more outspoken. For example, support for the Black Lives Matter movement peaked at 43% among white people in early June 2020, with 36% opposed at that time. As of the end of December 2021, support among white people had fallen to 34%, with 51% opposed.3
The effects of this backlash to the “Great Awakening” are being felt in many places, including in our schools. As of October 2021, eight states had passed laws prohibiting factual instruction on the history of people of color in this country.
Twenty more states have similar bills in process.4 In some cases, opposition to historically accurate education merged with opposition to public health recommendations regarding masking in schools, which has led to furious, mostly white, parents verbally and sometimes physically attacking school board members.5 A related rage, which often similarly stems from a sense of privilege, has been directed at the physicians and public health officials who have become the face of science-based COVID safety measures.6
So where do we go from here? As frontline healthcare workers, we are all exhausted from fighting against COVID-19 for the safety of our communities, and fighting for our sanity in the midst of necessary pandemic-related restrictions that have upended the support systems and routines that we previously depended on in order to care for others. This exhaustion makes the hard work of undoing structural racism even harder.
A general suggestion for incorporating the fight for an antiracist America into an already very demanding time in our lives is to convert sporadic efforts into habits. Multiple organizations and individuals in our communities are already doing this work—set up a recurring donation to these organizations and regularly repost their content on social media. Routinely check to make sure you have books and movies written and produced by Black individuals in your media rotation. Put up a job board in your waiting room and post positions whenever they open up in your organization—empower your patients to encourage individuals in their community to apply so your staff reflects the patients you serve. Whenever possible, make your go-to guidelines and medical calculators those that do not incorporate race-based medicine. Consistently uplift the voices of people of color and promote them into leadership positions that align with their career goals. Through small individual actions, even during fraught times, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, long arc of the moral universe will continue to bend towards justice.
References available on the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians website.