JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hundreds of Jacksonville healthcare professionals gathered Friday in Riverside’s Memorial Park to raise awareness about the trials minorities face within the healthcare system and to remember black lives lost to police brutality.
“We know George Floyd was not an incident — he was an alarm,” a physician told those in attendance over a megaphone. “We ask ourselves, how many more alarms have to be sounded? How many more alarms have to be sounded with the lives of black kids and black men? How many more alarms have to be sounded?”
At the event, known as White Coats for Black Lives, attendees knelt for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time a Minneapolis police officer pinned 46-year-old George Floyd to the ground with his knee before Floyd died. That officer has been charged with Floyd’s murder and three others also face charges in the case.
“As physicians we have a very sacred obligation to take care of people,” Dr. Adriana Cantville, a pediatrician at UF Health Jacksonville, said. “Seeing what’s going on right now and seeing the violence that’s happening, there’s nothing to do but to take action.”
Dr. Cantville organized hundreds of physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals to expose the disparities minorities face within the healthcare system. She said each of them has a voice and a story, and it’s important to “use our voices to lift others.”
“As a mom, just watching the tape of George Floyd’s murder, when he called out for his mother, that was deeply penetrating and painful,” Dr. Cantville said. "An end to violence, better access to care of all people, all stations of life, just equal treatment. Part of the problem is not enough people who don’t suffer that violence every day, speak up. So, we all have to speak up against it, not just the people who are victims of it.”
Dr. Priyanka Vijapura, a physician with Mayo Clinic, and her husband, who’s also a physician, brought their 8-month-old child to the gathering. She said it’s important for her child to learn to get out of her comfort zone and stand up for what’s right.
“You have to prioritize black lives, health and safety above non-black comfort,” Dr. Vijapura said.
For physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers who could not make it to the organized event, they took part in shows of solidarity at their respective facilities, including Nemours.
“All of us have the same sentiment and the same feeling, and all of us can make the same difference,” Dr. Manisha Bansal said of the display at Nemours.
