Race, Ethnicity, and Residency

Post #1: Introduction

The recent murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor just up the road in Louisville have raised awareness of systemic racial injustice in our country.  I believe it is important to comment on this topic and will use several upcoming posts to do so.  I hope this generates some discussion and opportunities for continued learning and growth (starting with myself).  First, some qualifiers:

• This is not a political statement.  I want to focus on medicine and our programmatic response.  However, any reasoned comment on this topic cannot ignore the role of policies in creating and maintaining structural racism.

• This represents my views and perspective.  As program director, it also reflects our residency program, but I do not speak on behalf of my residents, faculty, departmental staff, or the broader university.

• Relatedly and most importantly, this represents the views and perspective of a cis gendered white man of high socioeconomic status.  I am the beneficiary of race.  I have no experiential knowledge of this topic, and while I have vetted these posts with several colleagues and peers, I am certain that parts of this will be insensitive and perhaps inaccurate.  I apologize in advance, especially if this somehow adds to the pain of any Black or Brown readers.  Please critique these posts harshly and contact me with comments.

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Where do we go from here?  That’s the biggest question I have for myself and our society, and while I clearly have no answer, there are others with ideas.  Research from Movement Netlab, a social movement think tank, frames social movements in cycles:  from rising anger, to a trigger moment, heroic phase, disillusionment, learning and reflection, and re-growth (and then repeat).

According to this model, it would appear we are or near the peak, suggesting a contraction is coming.  If we want to realize some of the changes the current movement is demanding, it will require sustained efforts to fight through the upcoming waves; on their own, words, institutional statements, and blog posts accomplish very little.  With that in mind, I want to orient the remainder of this conversation around three areas within our profession that are necessary for long-term change:  learning, reflection, and action.