A message from Dermot Kelleher, Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Vice-President, Health, UBC
Dear friends and colleagues,
I am bringing my weekly communication forward in light of world events. By now, billions of people around the world have watched on television the horrifying death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black American man – a harrowing eight minutes of inhumanity that has provoked an outpouring of sadness and despair around the world.
The sadness comes from the knowledge that such deaths occur not infrequently, and although they may not appear on camera, they are often associated with a dubious charge. But the root cause of such events is a culture in which the value of a person’s life is determined by the colour of their skin. The despair comes from the knowledge that this is 2020 — a time when those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s might have expected that the cancer of racism might have been eradicated. So, it is hard to come to terms with a democracy where all are purported to be equal and yet racist actions are frequently and systematically embedded in law enforcement in such a way that a man can be killed without thought and consequence.
The UN Declaration of Human Rights was published in 1948, crafted by John Peters Humphrey, a Canadian human rights lawyer, working with a committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States, diplomat and humanitarian. This declaration espouses the principles of freedom, dignity, justice, equality and the rights of people to live in peace and in health. Over the intervening decades, we have seen the impacts of Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela and the profound changes that the actions of these men of principle and integrity have brought to bear in the most dignified way, even following their passing.
By this time in history, we should have come to the point where “the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes” as Bob Marley sang in 1976. By now in 2020, we should have shed such dreadful prejudices in a tolerant world of equality. Ken Frazier, a black American man and CEO of Merck, said about George Floyd that it “could be me. ” And of course it could be any black person. Racism does not recognize intelligence, education, kindness, warmth or empathy. It does not recognize the core elements of humanity. And while people of colour in other jurisdictions do not necessarily fear the prospect that they may die in custody in this way, prejudice and discrimination takes many other forms.
Yesterday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paused for a long time in response to a question regarding the death of George Floyd. He responded by referring to the horror and consternation it caused him, but also reflected on the Canadian context to say that “it is time for us Canadians to recognize that we too have our challenges, that black Canadians and racialized Canadians face discrimination as a lived reality every single day.”
Let us not lose sight of the point that Prime Minister Trudeau is making — that people in our society face discrimination every single day, including marginalized populations and our Indigenous peoples. We know because we see it on the exit surveys of our graduates. We know because students and others within our community confide in us some of their experiences from everyday life or views they have heard expressed. We have all heard people comment in a derogatory way, even in so-called “polite society”.
To that end, even if we do not come face-to-face with such egregious examples as those in the U.S., let us not forget that racism exists. And when we encounter racism, sexism or discrimination based on religious beliefs or sexual orientation — let us not walk by. It is time to call it out. It is time to call a halt. Dr. Abraham Verghese, a professor in the theory and practise of medicine at Stanford University, has a beautiful quote in his novel Cutting for Stone, “The world turns on our every action, and our every omission, whether we know it or not.”
One of the most important consequences of prejudice is inequity, the principle that not everyone is entitled to the same opportunities in life. And while this may be the intent of the perpetrators, the victims of such prejudice may come to believe that they are less worthy by virtue of their race or gender. It is an important time for us as a world-class Faculty of Medicine to stop and think about the role we play in the eradication of such thinking through act and deed. We have consistently stressed the importance of a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion in our Faculty. As a global medical school, we must go further. We must banish racism, prejudice and disrespect from our working and learning environments.
We all have a responsibility to act in a way that ensures dignity and respect for all. And most importantly, we must not pass by and commit the act of omission when we encounter prejudice and inequality. “The world turns on our actions.”
In solidarity,
Dermot Kelleher, MB, MD, FRCP, FRCPI, FMedSci, FCAHS, FRCPC, AGAF
Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Vice-President, Health
The University of British Columbia
This address originally appeared on UBC Faculty of Medicine