URMC medical students participate in national action: #WhiteCoats4BlackLives

Primary tabs

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Thu, 2014-12-18 12:13

On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, University of Rochester Medical Center medical students participated in a nation-wide action calling for die-ins and protests because #BlackLivesMatter. The die-ins and demonstrations happened at more than 70 medical schools to protest the "lack of indictments for police killings in Ferguson, Mo., and New York, and to spotlight racial bias as a public health issue," according to a press release from Physicians for a National Health Program.

#WhiteCoats4BlackLives came together at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry seemingly over night according to Emily Walters, a third year medical student.

"On Facebook yesterday I saw someone at a different school post about this med student die-in. I clicked on the link to see what it said. It said that there were over 50 schools and Rochester wasn't on the list, which was surprising to me because we are--I feel like as a school our culture is very committed to social justice--the administration is very supportive of social justice," Walters said. "We started posting about it on social media and there was such a huge need for it by students that it came together really easily. A few posts on social media, a couple of emails, and the passion of the students," and #WhiteCoats4BlackLives materialized on campus happening that day at noon with over 70 students participating in the die-in.

The national call-out was endorsed by Students for a National Health Program, part of Physicians for a National Health Program ( www.pnhp.org ), an organization more 19,000 physicians, health professionals, medical and health professional students who advocate for universal, single-payer, improved Medicare for all.

Nationally, the die-ins happened around 3pm. However, in Rochester, they happened at noon. According to the Facebook event page, "Our event will take place at noon in order to accommodate the schedules of our medical students. Our advisory deans encourage students who are currently scheduled for advisory dean lunch but who wish to participate in this event to participate in this event and then attend advisory dean lunch afterwards."

During the die-in, Michael Seaberry, a first year medical student, read a piece he had recently written regarding the death of his father, a police officer, and the non-indictments of killer cops, Darren Wilson & Daniel Pantaleo. "I wrote this piece, then ironically, about a week later, the grand jury announcements were made about not indicting officer Wilson in Ferguson. So I tweaked it a little bit to go more along with the things that have happened to me by police officers--like being pulled over at gun point for no apparent reason at all by three police cars--which was very scary," Seaberry said. "My dad, being a police officer, I sort of see both parallels; I really trust police officers because that's what my dad was, and I'm also afraid of police officers in a sense, because of the things that have been going on and because I'm a young, black male."

"We as medical students feel that this is an important time for medical institutions to respond to the violence and race-related trauma that affect our communities and the patients we serve," states the press release. "Racial bias and violence are not exclusively a problem of the criminal justice system. As we have seen in Ferguson, Mo., New York, and countless other places, bias kills, sickens, and provides inadequate care. As medical students, we must take a stand against the oppression of our black and brown patients, colleagues, friends, and family. By standing together at medical schools nationwide, we hope to demonstrate that the medical student community views racial violence as a public health crisis. We are #whitecoats4blacklives."

Watch Rochester's action below:

White Coats 4 Black Lives

A list of medical schools that participated in the action including but not limited to:
Albany Medical College, Albany
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York
Boston University School of Medicine, Boston
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland
Charles R. Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program, Los Angeles
Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University, Chicago
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Camden
Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles
Duke University School of Medicine, Durham
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta
Frank H. Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac, North Haven
George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C.
Harvard Medical School, Boston
Howard University College of Medicine, Washington DC
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Chicago
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Meharry Medical College, Nashville
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing
Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta
New York Medical College, Valhalla
New York University School of Medicine, New York
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago
Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago
Rush Medical College, Chicago
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield
Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia
Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook
SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, Brooklyn
Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia
Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, Fort Worth
Touro University California College of Medicine, Vallejo
Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston
Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans
University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo
University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix
University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine, Little Rock
University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego
University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco
University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati
University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana Champaign, Urbana
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester
University of Medicine and Health Sciences, St. Kitts
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor
University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis
University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, Biddeford
University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, N.Y.
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas
University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond
Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem
Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, Providence
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis
Weill Cornell Medical College, New York
Yale School of Medicine, New Haven