Yale medical students hold ‘die-in’ to protest race, gender discrimination 70 at Yale Med School wear white coats, join nationwide ‘die-in’

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NEW HAVEN >> Broadening the protest to focus on racism in the American medical system, about 70 Yale Medical School students and faculty joined a nationwide “die-in” Wednesday, held here in front of the Sterling Hall of Medicine at 333 Cedar St.

The students and a handful of faculty wore white medical coats, some over black clothing to signify injustice against people of color.

Addressing the crowd, medical student Zola Chihombori Quao said through a bullhorn, “This isn’t just for show. … We have our purpose of showing solidarity for those patients that we have that will one day be affected” by racial discrimination.

“We will also learn about their struggle and about their sorrow.”

Organizers said the die-in was part of a protest at medical schools nationwide. “We stand here as part of a movement that has transcended all boundaries of time and place, a movement with a simple and straightforward goal: equitable treatment for all people,” said Jessica Minor, a med student who addressed the crowd.

“Today, we wear our white coats. These white coats have become a symbol of our privilege; a sign of our claim to medical knowledge, our professional oath to do no harm, and to the trust that comes with that knowledge and oath. ... We admit the exclusion of women and people of color in our profession,” Minor continued.

She named atrocities committed by medical schools such as the use of black cadavers in experiments, the theft of bodies and the 40-year syphilis experiment on black men at the Tuskegee Institute, which ended in 1972.

Minor also named “sexual harassment of women at the School of Medicine.”

Yale medical student Zola Chihombori Quao leads medical students in a chant, “black lives matter” during a White Coat Die-In at Yale School of Medicine at 333 Cedar Street in New Haven Wednesday afternoon, December 10. 2014. The demonstration is part of the National White Coat Die-In happening in medical schools across the country in response to the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed on Aug. 9, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Mo . less Yale medical student Zola Chihombori Quao leads medical students in a chant, “black lives matter” during a White Coat Die-In at Yale School of Medicine at 333 Cedar Street in New Haven Wednesday ... more Photo: (Catherine Avalone - New Haven Register) Photo: (Catherine Avalone - New Haven Register) Image 1 of / 80 Caption Close Yale medical students hold ‘die-in’ to protest race, gender discrimination 1 / 80 Back to Gallery

“Our history ends with the present,” Minor said. “We’ll push beyond ‘do no harm’ to ‘do what’s right.’”

As in other protests in New Haven and nationwide, the protesters lay down on the ground for 4½ minutes to represent the number of hours that Michael Brown lay dead after being shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. They then shouted “I can’t breathe!” 11 times, the same number of times Eric Garner said those words before he died of a chokehold by police in Staten Island, New York.

There followed chants of “Black lives matter!” and “No justice, no peace! No racist police!”

Signs held by the protesters detailed other problems faced by blacks in the health care system: “Blacks are more likely to receive lower limb amputations due to delayed care,” “Blacks are less likely to be put on transplant lists.”

“This isn’t just an issue of injustice in the law, but it’s a social health justice issue,” said Amber Anders, a medical student from Ferguson. “It’s definitely something that hits home for me,” she said, adding that, without support from other medical students, “I wouldn’t have made it through all this.”

“I think right now we’re living in a country and entering a profession where there’s widespread inequities,” said medical student Zak Grunwald. “It’s time to bridge some of these gaps.”

Dr. Benjamin Doolittle, residency program director for the Yale Medical School, said he joined the demonstration because he was “so sad about what happened and I honestly didn’t know how to respond to all that because it’s such a tragedy.”

He added, “I think Yale is a great place to practice medicine for everyone but I am concerned that people of color are seen in a way that’s unfair even in a place like Yale.” He said Yale was “the kind of place where open conversation really happens.”