Dear IHP Community: Justice has been served. I exhaled deeply and grew emotional as the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin was read. It has been a tremendously challenging year since George Floyd’s murder, a year in which the country has experienced a much-needed wake-up call on the systemic racism prevalent in our society. Our thoughts are with the Floyd family tonight as they continue to mourn the loss of their loved one.
Too often, we have seen a different ending to this story. An ending where Black Americans are innocently killed by police, who later face little or no consequences for their actions. We think of Breonna Taylor, and we think of countless other Black Americans who have died needlessly. The list is long, and it goes back many years.
As I stated last June, the Institute is taking concrete steps to address racial injustices that have persisted for far too long. Our commitment to equity and anti-oppressive practice serves as a pledge of our shared responsibility to challenge systemic barriers within our learning community and in the health care system.
We have much work to do, and I am glad that the Institute has begun the journey toward a more equitable and just future. Today, we stand with our Black colleagues in a collective sense of relief for the Chauvin verdict and in sadness for the loss of George Floyd.