UCLA Health workers come together for Black Lives Matter Movement

Hundreds of UCLA Health workers came together to honor George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor and countless other victims of police violence and systemic racism.
UCLA Health article
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LOS ANGELES (June 5, 2020) – Hundreds of UCLA Health workers came together to honor George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor and countless other victims of police violence and systemic racism. The demonstration was organized by UCLA resident physicians and medical students in collaboration with the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), Student National Medical Association, Latino Medical Student Association, and Docs for POC recognizing White Coats For Black Lives.

Photos from the event can be found here.

Leslie Ojeaburu, second-year medical student and Vice President of the Student National Medical Association at UCLA: “Before we can stand as allies for the communities we serve and before we can work to heal this nation from the sickness of structural racism, we must first diagnose our own apathy. We must actively work to decolonize our minds and our attitudes. We must ensure that our intentions are as pure as our resolve. We cannot waver when we call for equity in our medical education system. We must not waver when we call for a reevaluation of our hospital protocols and policies to be ever more mindful of the traumas people of color are exposed to in our healthcare system every day. We must stand firm in our resolve to extend our work outside of the hospital wards and into the sick bays of our government legislative branch.”

Peter Salam Beah, a second-year resident in internal medicine at UCLA: “As an African American male in medicine, I have had awareness of the health care industry’s complicity in structural racism and how it negatively impacts patients of color and the underserved. Police violence is not only part of this structural racism but a public health crisis of itself. People are angry and ready for change on a large scale, larger than we have seen in some time. This protest is to show that the future of medicine is behind this change. We not only want to show our solidarity with protesters but give resources as to how people can get more involved and nurture this change.”

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