George Floyd Found Allies in his Community and in Physicians
Author: Marie Ayorkor Laryea, MD, MDCM, FRCPC
KEYWORDS: George Floyd, allyship, racism, diversity, equity, inclusion
Mr. Rogers famously spoke of his mother telling him to look for the helpers when something on the news scared him. The helpers were all around George Floyd on the day he died.
I have only ever watched the video of George Floyd’s death once. That call to a departed mother. “Mama”. With that one word it seemed I had witnessed the murder of a child and it was unbearable to watch. I was overwhelmed with a feeling I had only ever felt once before.
In medical school, a patient I was admitting suffered papillary muscle rupture and died in front of me. When they took their last breath I felt panic. I felt I should be acting. I turned on the oxygen and rushed to press the mask to the patient’s face well after that oxygen could do any good. That feeling, that inaction is intolerable, is the exact feeling I had watching that horrific video. It was like the ABCs in reverse. First they compromise the airway. Then the breathing ceases. Then the man is pulseless.
I also found the trial very difficult to watch, but for very different reasons. The trial made the act of killing George Floyd seem even more depraved, callous, and immoral. Unexpected, however, were other thoughts I had watching witnesses testify for the prosecution.
The witnesses all appeared traumatized and I understood well when they spoke of inaction feeling wrong. Those everyday people who filmed, or tried to intervene, were not able to save him that day. However, they helped the prosecutors piece together a case, helped the Floyd family get some measure of justice, and helped the nation restore its faith in community and humanity. They helped show our children what compassion looks like, what civic duty means and what caring for others takes. Seeing all those engaged people trying to help Mr. Floyd likely offered some solace to his family, too. He did not die alone in the custody of a man who thought him subhuman, but also surrounded by his concerned community trying to help him.
In that courtroom, something very meaningful for our profession also happened. Physicians were there, on the witness stand, playing their part in obtaining justice for the man none of us were allowed to help. Physicians reviewed facts, explained findings and educated the court in non-technical language about restrictive respiratory defects, oxygenation, atherosclerosis, left ventricular hypertrophy, incidentilomas, and pharmacology. Pulmonology and Critical Care. Cardiology. Pathology. Toxicology. Emergency Medicine. Doctors came forward and did what we all do in clinic every day: explain complex disease in simple terms and educate. They were all part of George Floyd’s care team and they made me singularly proud to be a peer.
Although institutions often fall short and racism in health care is a real thing many of us face daily, the case of George Floyd reminded me of the power of medicine even when we are powerless to heal. We can witness. We can advocate. We can support. We are part of that community witnessing the unimaginable and not walking away. There is a word for this: allyship. This is what we mean when we say being an ally is so important.
Defined as “an active, consistent, and arduous practice of unlearning and re-evaluating, in which a person in a position of privilege and power seeks to operate in solidarity with a marginalized group”, allyship is one of those words that makes some roll their eyes or sigh as one more politically correct word enters our vocabulary. If we set aside definitions and concepts, however, George Floyd’s community showed us exactly how powerful a tool allyship is in fighting for social justice. It means standing by a marginalized group. Speaking up for a resident called derogatory names by a patient. Stepping in when a colleague is being insensitive or rude to another. Being there for the patient, doctor, nurse, maintenance worker who is mistreated.
In short, allyship is one step beyond looking for the helpers, it is coming forward and being counted as one of them. The power of allyship is one of the great lessons the death of George Floyd has taught us. Of all the things we can do to help our institutions on their difficult journeys toward Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, allyship is the one thing we all have at our disposal.
When someone has to look for the helpers, may one of us physicians be there among the allies.
About the Author: Marie Ayorkor Laryea, MD, MDCM, FRCPC, is a transplant hepatologist, Associate Professor of Medicine and Surgery, and Associate Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Rochester, NY (Twitter: @HerLiverMD).
