scholarly journals Statements issued by academic medical institutions after George Floyd’s killing by police and subsequent unrest in the United States: cross-sectional study

Author(s):  
Mathew V. Kiang ◽  
Alexander C. Tsai

AbstractBackgroundThe horrific nature of George Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis Police Department officer on May 25, 2020 has sparked more than a month of nationwide protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. At critical junctures of the nation’s public health such as these, academic medical institutions may exert leadership by issuing public statements to communicate institutional values.MethodsWe obtained statements issued by 56 leading U.S. medical schools relevant to George Floyd’s killing and subsequent protests. We tokenized statements into words, n-grams of sizes 2 and 3, and sentences; removed non-informative stop words and words that would compromise de-identification; and stemmed the remaining words using the Porter algorithm. We followed a predefined set of rules for identifying important elements of these statements related to leadership in antiracism and public health.ResultsNearly all named George Floyd (50 [89%]), a majority noted the role of racism (43 [77%]) and acknowledged the Black community specifically (41 [73%]). Fewer ╌ slightly more than half ╌ referenced the act resulting in Floyd’s death (31 [55%]) or made explicit reference to the police (29 [52%]). Only 7 (13%) explicitly used terms denoting active support, like “antiracism” or “Black Lives Matter.” Most (45 [80%]) included references to negative sequelae resulting from racism like “disparities” or “inequality”. All included hopeful language.ConclusionOnly a minority of institutions made reference to the killing of George Floyd by the police, and most failed to address this country’s targeted, historically engrained, and sustained oppression of Black people through white supremacy. Thus, our study identifies significant opportunities for U.S. medical schools to exert meaningful leadership in health.

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-219
Author(s):  
Stephanie Y. Johng ◽  
Ranit Mishori ◽  
Valeriy R. Korostyshevskiy

Background and Objectives: Academic promotion is critical in academic medicine. Traditionally, peer-reviewed journal articles have been at the core of advancement deliberations. With the increasing prominence digital content and social media, an increasing number of academics have begun linking their scholarly value with their online activities. It is unclear whether and how US academic medical institutions have updated their promotion criteria to reflect the changing environment and digital practices of faculty members. Methods: We reviewed publicly available advancement and promotion policies and faculty handbooks of 148 allopathic medical schools in the United States (April 2018 through September 2018), to see if social media was explicitly included in their scholarship criteria. Results: Of the 148 allopathic institutions only 12 (8.1%) stated that digital and social media products would be factored into the scholarship and/or other domains of the promotion application. There were no associations between acceptability of social media in the tenure process and schools’ characteristics. Conclusions: Digital media use has the potential to distribute scholarship widely. Including digital scholarship in promotion would help destigmatize the use of digital platforms and promote science dissemination to the public. Medical institutions should embrace new models of digital scholarship and lead the way in defining and ensuring quality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aya Esther Hayashi

We in the United States are living in the midst of two pandemics: Covid-19, which is affecting communities of color at an absurdly disproportionate rate, and a renewed spate of murders of Black people at the hands of police. They reveal the depths of racial inequity and injustice in our country. This is a crisis—a turning point where many of us are wondering what we can do better and how we can be better. For us in fan studies, will we finally face the white supremacy embedded in our discipline and take steps to become an antiracist discipline?


Author(s):  
Cheryl Teelucksingh

On August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, alt-right/White supremacy groups and Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporters came face-to-face regarding what to do about public monuments that celebrate key figures from slavery and the Jim Crow era. White supremacists and White nationalists did not hide their racist ideologies as they demanded that their privileged place in history not be erased. The BLM movement, which challenges state-sanctioned anti-Black racism, was ready to confront themes of White discontent and reverse racism, critiques of political correctness, and the assumption that racialized people should know their place and be content to be the subordinate other.It is easy to frame the events in Charlottesville as indicative of US-specific race problems. However, a sense that White spaces should prevail and an ongoing history of anti-Black racism are not unique to the United States. The rise of Canadian activism under the BLM banner also signals a movement to change Canadian forms of institutional racism in policing, education, and the labor market. This article responds to perceptions that the BLM movement has given insufficient attention to environmental concerns (Pellow 2016; Halpern 2017). Drawing on critical race theory as a conceptual tool, this article focuses on the Canadian context as part of the author’s argument in favor of greater collaboration between BLM and the environmental justice (EJ) movement in Canada. This article also engages with the common stereotype that Blacks in Canada have it better than Blacks in the United States.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110287
Author(s):  
Robert L. Cooper ◽  
Mohammad Tabatabai ◽  
Paul D. Juarez ◽  
Aramandla Ramesh ◽  
Matthew C. Morris ◽  
...  

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) has been shown to be an effective method of HIV prevention for men who have sex with-men (MSM) and -transgender women (MSTGWs), serodiscordant couples, and injection drug users; however fewer than 50 000 individuals currently take this regimen. Knowledge of PrEP is low among healthcare providers and much of this lack of knowledge stems from the lack or exposure to PrEP in medical school. We conducted a cross sectional survey of medical schools in the United States to assess the degree to which PrEP for HIV prevention is taught. The survey consisted Likert scale questions assessing how well the students were prepared to perform each skill associated with PrEP delivery, as well as how PrEP education was delivered to students. We contacted 141 medical schools and 71 responded to the survey (50.4%). PrEP education was only reported to be offered at 38% of schools, and only 15.4% reported specific training for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) patients. The most common delivery methods of PrEP content were didactic sessions with 11 schools reporting this method followed by problem-based learning, direct patient contact, workshops, and small group discussions. Students were more prepared to provide PrEP to MSM compared to other high-risk patients. Few medical schools are preparing their students to prescribe PrEP upon graduation. Further, there is a need to increase the number of direct patient contacts or simulations for students to be better prepared.


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Alfred Smith

The Black Lives Matter movement is one of the most dynamic social justice movements currently emerging in the USA. This movement led by young Blacks unapologetically calls out the shameful, historical legacy of American racism and White supremacy while asserting the humanity and sacredness of Black lives, particularly those of unarmed persons senselessly murdered by police officers. While Black Lives Matter is a new movement, it is also an extension of the 400-year struggle of Black people in America to affirm Black dignity, equality, and human rights, even while the major institutions of American society have propagated doctrines and enforced unjust rules/laws to denigrate Black life. Black Christians have found hope and inspiration from the Gospel to claim their humanity and to struggle to gain justice for Black lives and for the lives of all oppressed people. In addition, the Black Lives Matter movement provides a helpful critique of many Black churches, challenging them to confront their biases, which label young Black males as “thugs” (the new N-word) and which cruelly demonize the LGBTQ community. The story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10 provides a scriptural basis for Christian introspection and responses to God’s vision for beloved community, and for the call to action from the Black Lives Matter movement.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berkeley Franz ◽  
Adrienne Milner ◽  
Jomills H. Braddock

Abstract Background: Anti-black and anti-Hispanic attitudes in the U.S. must be included in efforts to understand resistance to public health measures, such as mask wearing, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing on the structural and individual context of racism will enable us to improve public health and better prepare for future public health challenges. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between mask usage, racial segregation, and racial disparities in COVID-19 deaths.Methods: We used linear regression to assess whether the racial/ethnic composition of deaths and residential segregation predicted Americans’ decisions to wear masks in July 2020. Results: After controlling for mask mandates, mask usage increased when the White death rates relative to Black and Hispanic rates increased. Conclusions: Mask wearing may be shaped by an insensitivity to Black and Hispanic deaths and a corresponding unwillingness to engage in health protective behaviors. The broader history of systemic racism and residential segregation may also explain why white Americans do not wear masks or perceive themselves to be at risk when communities of color are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisy Massey ◽  
Chenxi Huang ◽  
Yuan Lu ◽  
Alina Cohen ◽  
Yahel Oren ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has continued to spread in the US and globally. Closely monitoring public engagement and perception of COVID-19 and preventive measures using social media data could provide important information for understanding the progress of current interventions and planning future programs. OBJECTIVE To measure the public’s behaviors and perceptions regarding COVID-19 and its daily life effects during the recent 5 months of the pandemic. METHODS Natural language processing (NLP) algorithms were used to identify COVID-19 related and unrelated topics in over 300 million online data sources from June 15 to November 15, 2020. Posts in the sample were geotagged, and sensitivity and specificity were both calculated to validate the classification of posts. The prevalence of discussion regarding these topics was measured over this time period and compared to daily case rates in the US. RESULTS The final sample size included 9,065,733 posts, 70% of which were sourced from the US. In October and November, discussion including mentions of COVID-19 and related health behaviors did not increase as it had from June to September, despite an increase in COVID-19 daily cases in the US beginning in October. Additionally, counter to reports from March and April, discussion was more focused on daily life topics (69%), compared with COVID-19 in general (37%) and COVID-19 public health measures (20%). CONCLUSIONS There was a decline in COVID-19-related social media discussion sourced mainly from the US, even as COVID-19 cases in the US have increased to the highest rate since the beginning of the pandemic. Targeted public health messaging may be needed to ensure engagement in public health prevention measures until a vaccine is widely available to the public.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-19
Author(s):  
Tahereh Changiz ◽  
Mahasti Alizadeh

Background: Community medicine and public health are the core subjects in medical education. One of the main competencies of general physicians in the national curriculum is having knowledge and skills in health promotion and disease prevention in the health system. Any curriculum revision in community medicine departments needs to incorporate the evidence and use pioneer countries’ experiences in this issue. This study aims to compare community medicine and public health courses in medical schools between Iran and selected universities in North America. Methods: The elements of a community medicine curriculum for medical students were compared in a descriptive-comparative study using the Bereday model. These elements included objectives and competencies, educational strategies, teaching and learning methods, assessment, and educational fields in a community medicine curriculum in Iran and in selected universities in North America. A literature search was conducted in CINAHL, SCOPUS, MEDLINE, Web of Science, EBSCO, and on university websites. Results: Essential aspects of community-based strategies among community medicine and public health curriculum of general medicine in universities in Canada and the United States included a longitudinal approach, training in urban and rural primary care centers, teaching by family physicians and health center staff, a spiral curriculum, focus on social determinants of health, taking of social and cultural histories and social prescriptions, learning teamwork, and using LIC (Longitudinal Integrated Curriculum). Conclusion: The objective of community medicine and public health curriculum in selected North American universities was to prepare general practitioners who work in Level 2 and 3 hospitals and to improve their skills to provide high-quality services to the community. Some of the successful points in the selected universities that could be replicated in Iranian faculties of medicine included using integration strategy, a spiral curriculum, and an LIC approach.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 530-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Schooley ◽  
Debbiesiu L. Lee ◽  
Lisa B. Spanierman

The psychological study of Whiteness provides one avenue for researchers to help combat racial injustice in the United States. This article is a call to action for counseling psychologists to engage in much needed scholarship and critical examinations of Whiteness. In this systematic review and content analysis, we provide an overview of 18 quantitative measures focusing on various aspects of Whiteness published between 1967 and 2017. We summarize the constructs and psychometric properties of these measures. Our content analysis indicated that constructs assessed by Whiteness measures have shifted in focus over time across four themes: (a) Attitudes Toward Black People/Integration, (b) Modern Racism, (c) White Racial Identity, and (d) White Privilege and Antiracism. We conclude with suggestions on how advancement, development, and use of Whiteness measures could further our knowledge through research examining present-day racial justice issues. The issues highlighted include police brutality, xenophobia, immigration, White supremacy, activism, and training in the field.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelarine Cornelius

Purpose2020 has proved to be a challenging year. In addition to the challenges of COVID-19, yet again, the USA has witnessed police brutality leading to the death of a Black man, George Floyd. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, founded in the US but now an international organisation which challenges white supremacy and deliberates harm against Black people, mobilised hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets across the globe. Increasingly, the protests focus not only on George Floyd's murder but also the continued failure to challenge the celebrity of those involved in the transatlantic slave trade and European imperialism. In this article, the author will contend that many organisations are now reexamining their association with these historical wrongs against Black Africa and its diaspora. Further, the author will contend but that the failure to highlight the role of Black chattel slavery and imperialism in the accumulation of economic, commercial and political benefits reaped by the global north is a source of shame not only for many firms and institutions but also for universities.Design/methodology/approachThe author has reviewed the online media for the latest developments in response to Black Lives Matter's George Floyd campaign in 2020 and reviewed the literature on the link between European global ambition and its impact on the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa.FindingsInternationally, there is a discernible change in outlook towards the importance of the evils of slavery and colonialism on the Black experience today. These small steps will require scholars to embark on a fresh reexamination of race, society and work.Originality/valueFor decades, the slave trade and colonialism were issues rarely raised in government, firms and business schools. This will inevitably change especially in those countries that are the main beneficiaries of Black chattel slavery and colonial exploitation. Much Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) practice is fundamentally tokenism. A root and branch reappraisal will be needed to create more effective EDI policy and practice in support of race equality and anti-racism.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document