In May 2020, George Floyd was murdered. In July, Black Lives Matter protests filled the streets of many American cities. For every young African American who is murdered by a police officer, physicians, like the members of all of our communities, grieve. For the African American physician, trainee, undergraduate student, high school student, and middle school student, these incidents are added to the many examples of systemic racism that negatively impact our physical and emotional health. Medical institutions across the country have responded with the promise of change.
The problem of systemic racism plagues all aspects of our society, including medicine's contribution to health disparities resulting in worsened outcomes in our Black and Latin-X communities. A host of socioeconomic factors, including limited access to care, continues to negatively impact underrepresented groups in the United States (Cad Saude Publica 2017;33(Suppl 1):e00104416). It is incumbent upon physicians to understand and...