Hospital staff take the knee in Boston


THE BIG PICTURE

Hospital staff take the knee in Boston
Tom Moberly

The BMJ

[Image: David L Ryan/Boston Globe/Getty Images]

Members of staff kneel during a vigil on the lawn of Brigham
and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, on 5 June as
part of global Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice
and in memory of George Floyd, killed by the police in
Minneapolis on 25 May.

Protests also took part in the UK, and a protester outside
Downing Street demanded effective protection against covid-19
and highlighted the disproportionately higher mortality rate
from the virus among ethnic minority groups.
In a statement issued in response to the Black Lives Matter
protests, the BMA said, “We stand in solidarity.”
“Black lives should matter to every individual and every medical
professional,” the association added. “Racism breeds health
inequalities impacting on our patients, it adversely affects our
colleagues, and at its worst it kills, with black women five times
more likely to die during childbirth than white women in the
UK.
“These health inequalities are all too visible in the toll covid-19
is having on black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in
the UK. More than 90% of doctors who have died from the virus
to date are from a BAME background. Unless the government
engages in actions, not just words, the covid-19 pandemic will
continue to disproportionately impact on BAME healthcare
workers and the communities they serve.”

For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe

BMJ 2020;369:m2278 doi: 10.1136/bmj.m2278 (Published 9 June 2020) Page 1 of 1

News

NEWS

 o
n

 5
 A

p
ril 2

0
2

1
 b

y g
u

e
st. P

ro
te

cte
d

 b
y co

p
yrig

h
t.

h
ttp

://w
w

w
.b

m
j.co

m
/

B
M

J: first p
u

b
lish

e
d

 a
s 1

0
.1

1
3

6
/b

m
j.m

2
2

7
8

 o
n

 1
0

 Ju
n
e
 2

0
2
0
. D

o
w

n
lo

a
d
e
d
 fro

m
 

http://www.bmj.com/permissions
http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1136/bmj.m2278&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2020-06-09
http://www.bmj.com/