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White Coats for Black Lives

We don’t engage in politics for any reason other than to protect public health. Last Friday, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers throughout the country, including at Intermountain Healthcare and the University of Utah, showed their support with protests against racial injustice and police brutality. UPHE members and supporters were part of that demonstration. Racial injustice and police brutality are, at their core, public health issues. Even after George Floyd’s tragic death, countless examples have been documented of ongoing police brutality resulting in unjustified injury and death.

It’s time for a complete overhaul of police policies that don’t prioritize the safety and protection of everyone. Enforcing the law against the public shouldn’t be accomplished by an attitude of aggression and lawlessness by the police themselves.  Racial justice is key to environmental justice. We stand with Black Lives Matter and the peaceful protests happening around the county and we will continue to push for systemic change and radical equality.

The Salt Lake Tribune covered it in an article on Saturday:

Salt Lake City doctors demonstrate to honor George Floyd and decry racism

Salt Lake City doctors demonstrate to honor George Floyd and decry racism
Healthcare workers and medical students pause for 8 minutes 46 seconds of silence in front of the University of Utah Health Sciences Education Building during a demonstration in support of the Black Lives Matter movement Friday, June 5, 2020, in Salt Lake City. The White Coats for Black Lives protest was organized to stand in solidarity with those speaking out against the death of George Floyd who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on May 25. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Dozens of doctors, nurses and other health care workers and students knelt in support of anti-police brutality protests in Salt Lake City on Friday.

About 100 people in Utah joined healthcare professionals around the country using the label White Coats for Black Lives to honor George Floyd, a black man in Minnesota who died at the hands of police in an incident that sparked protests around the world. They knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the same amount of time Floyd was held under an officer’s knee.