Health Disparities Are Front Of Mind For Protesters: ‘If It’s Not Police … It’s Us Dying In A Hospital From The Pandemic’
For many Americans, the health disparities laid bare by the pandemic are intertwined with police violence and the Black Lives Matter movement. And many experts say that tackling those inequities lay at the heart of the battle against racism.
ProPublica:
On The Minds Of Black Lives Matter Protesters: A Racist Health System
On Tuesday, when he decided to protest, William Smith, 27, used a red marker to write a message on the back of a flattened cardboard box: “Kill Racism, Not Me.” As he stood alone, somber, he thought about George Floyd, a fellow black man whom he’d watched die on video as a Minneapolis cop kneeled on his neck eight days earlier. “Seeing the life leave his body was finally the last straw that broke the camel’s back for me,” he said. But he also thought about people he knew, a handful of them, who died after catching the new coronavirus. (Johnson, 6/5)
Modern Healthcare:
To Battle Racism, Experts Say Make Health Equity A Central Principle
The civil unrest that has erupted across the country following the May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody has sparked calls from healthcare leaders to address structural racism as a public health crisis. For Dr. Gary LeRoy, a dramatic shift is long overdue in how the nation not only discusses but addresses the issue. LeRoy, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, said he hasn’t seen much change in how healthcare providers tackle racial health disparities since he entered medical school in 1984. (Johnson, 6/6)
The Washington Post:
The Nexus Between Coronavirus And Protests: 'The Virus Was The Kindling. Police Brutality Lit The Fire.'
In the middle of the night, as some of the first protests raged in Louisville, Shae Smith and her husband, Walt, decided to break out of their pandemic quarantine and take to the streets. “We were actually in bed and I finally woke Walt up and said, ‘Babe, I think you need to go down there,’ ” Shae recalled. “ ‘You need to see what’s going on, we need to be a part of this.’ ” At 2:15 a.m., Walt went downtown to see, to make a statement. The Smiths had talked and talked about the virus; they knew joining the protests against police brutality meant a higher risk of being infected. (Fisher, Jamison and Wallace, 6/7)
Boston Globe:
Boston Medical Community Steps Up For Racial Justice
Medical professionals around Boston on Friday rallied against police brutality and in solidarity with Black Americans, saying racism is a public health crisis and that the city’s world-renowned hospitals should do more to address it. At noon, several hundred people affiliated with Brigham and Women’s Hospital — many wearing scrubs or white coats — gathered in Stoneman Centennial Park for a vigil organized by first-year internal medicine residents. (Griffin and Adams, 6/5)
The Washington Post:
Louisville’s Black Community Protests Police Brutality Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
What Christopher 2X saw in Jefferson Square Park, on the sixth day of protests here, were white and black hands locked in prayer, hundreds listening in the shadow of city hall, all while a man pleaded for justice through a microphone. But one person was missing. “Some people protest. Some people post. Some people donate. Some people pray. There’s no WRONG way to support but NOT supporting at all IS wrong.” (Stubbs, Dougherty and Wallace, 6/7)
USA Today:
Coronavirus, Police Violence Boost Risks Of Rising Black Youth Suicide
A decade after she tried to take her life as a college freshman, Victoria Waltz, a gifted child who played the harp, is only beginning to understand how things got so bad. "It's been a journey and a process from then to now," said Waltz, now 28. "It was a slow build up over time, starting in middle school. I had a lot of challenges trying to fit in and not knowing to talk about how I was really feeling." Girls started to bully the too tall, too smart girl with acne and glasses, who grew up middle class in Prince George's County, Maryland, one of the wealthiest black counties in the U.S. (O'Donnell, 6/7)
The Washington Post:
In New York, Social-Distancing Enforcement Was Tense Even Before The Protests
A call came over from dispatch for a rowdy group on a block of two-story houses in Brownsville, a mostly poor section of Brooklyn with a painful history of violent crime and bitter distrust of the police. "It's a gathering," said one of the NYPD officers en route to the scene. "They don't have masks." Three complaints had been made to 311, the city’s non-emergency line, and another three to 911. When the officers arrived on Pine Street, they were greeted with jeers. People reached for their phones to record the interaction. (Jacobs, 6/7)
The Associated Press:
Report: NYC Police Misconduct Often Involves Minority Youths
The vast majority of complaints about New York City police officers’ mistreatment of youths stemmed from encounters with black and Hispanic children, according to a new study by the city’s police watchdog agency. Nearly two-thirds of youth complaints to the Civilian Complaint Review Board involved children of color, the report says, including some “stopped for seemingly innocuous activities such as playing, high-fiving, running, carrying backpacks, and jaywalking.” (Mustian, 6/8)
The Hill:
Obama: COVID-19, Police Protests A 'Wake-Up Call' For 2020 Graduates
Former President Obama told the class of 2020 on Sunday that unprecedented pressures felt by their generation due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and mass demonstrations against police brutality and racism represented a "wake-up call" for graduates. In a virtual address delivered as part of YouTube's remote graduation ceremony for 2020 graduates, the former president said that the two competing crises meant that the status quo was not "working that well" for many Americans. (Bowden, 6/7)
NPR:
Democrats To Unveil Police Reform Legislation
In the wake of national protests set off following the death of George Floyd, House and Senate Democrats will unveil legislation Monday that would bring about wide-ranging reforms to the country's police departments. The Democratic proposal, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, marks one of the most comprehensive efforts in modern times to overhaul the way police do their jobs. (Grisales, Davis and Snell, 6/8)
Politico:
De Blasio Tells Staffers More Cops Will Be Disciplined Over Handling Of Protests
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio promised his staff that more NYPD officers will be disciplined over violent clashes with protesters throughout last week. In seeking to quell an uprising among city employees, some of whom are planning to rally against de Blasio on Monday morning, the mayor explained that he thought officers’ lives were in danger during the protests, according to three people on a staff call Sunday afternoon. (Goldenberg, 6/7)
ABC News:
'Black Lives Matter' Face Mask Shipment Halted For Inspection By USPS
A family-owned Oakland, California, clothing store shipped off four packages of "Black Lives Matter"-themed cloth face masks that were stopped by the U.S. Postal Service on Thursday for "further investigation," before going to their destination. The packages contained several black cloth face masks with the words "STOP KILLING BLACK PEOPLE M4BL" printed in yellow that were slated for delivery to Washington, D.C., New York City, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Missouri. M4BL is the acronym for the Movement for Black Lives that was created in 2014. (Carrega, 6/6)
