The REPAIR Project condemns the public attacks on anti-racist work in medicine by white supremacists that targeted Dr. Michelle Morse and Dr. Bram Wispelwey on January 22, 2022. These events have galvanized a national, public conversation but they are not new or isolated. Rather, they reflect the latest incidents in which anti-racist policies that attempt to promote health equity are mischaracterized as threatening to and disadvantaging white health.
We join others in demanding demonstrations of courage, accountability and protection for the brave colleagues who put their lives and professional reputations at risk attempting to combat white supremacy’s hold on the teaching and practice of medicine. White clinicians and scholars who seek to conduct anti-racist work and be in solidarity with anti-racist efforts have specific responsibilities including: (1) helping to protect the safety of BIPOC colleagues by speaking out against their targeting; (2) upholding BIPOC colleague’s leadership in this space; and, (3) co-occupying the frontlines of anti-racist work, and not linger in the background, out of harms’ way.
We encourage all to listen to a national discussion that took place on Twitter on February 4, 2022 facilitated by Dr. Brittani James and Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara. This conversation offers an important starting point for affirming our commitments to working collectively, and with more intention, while we create a different future for medicine and care.
We call on UCSF and all healthcare and academic institutions to break their silence by publicly condemning these white supremacist attacks on anti-racist medicine and to articulate concrete steps they will take to protect students, staff and faculty at UCSF who experience personal and professional attacks resulting from their work in anti-racism.