A solidarity event in support of the Black Lives Matter movement took place at Jacobi Medical Center on Jun. 9, 2020. About 35 hospital staff members stood outside the hospital displaying signs of support. Others spoke about the racial inequities that exist within the health care system and decried budget cuts to health care while the City pays out millions in law settlements relating to police misconduct.

 

Kelly Cabrera, a registered nurse working in emergency medicine addressed those gathered saying, “Racism is a public health emergency. We’re here as health care workers in one of the areas that was hit the hardest by COVID-19 to show our support for the Black Lives Matter movement”.

 

She continued, “The brutal murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of those who took an oath to serve and protect them is unforgivable. The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, and Trayvon Martin, and countless others remind us of our country’s painful history which is rooted in racism”.

 

Cabrera went on to say that there has been no post-racial America for the Black community and people of color, and that the proof was the number of Black patients who died from COVID-19 at almost three times the rate of White patients.

 

“It’s also why Black people are two and a half times more likely to be killed by police brutality,” Cabrera said. “As health care workers, nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and all others who work here, we have a commitment and a duty to keep our patients safe – very single one of them.”

 

Cabrera said it was health care workers’ collective responsibility to advocate for their patients and their community in every possible way. “It is on us to call out the injustice that continues to harm our patients,” she said, adding that as the City faces impending budget cuts to the health care system, cuts which she said were borne out of the brunt of the pandemic, it was important to point out that the City continues to cut funding for patients while spending more and more on lawsuits relating to police misconduct.

 

She said that last year, New York City taxpayers paid $69 million to settle such lawsuits, and spent $230 million in litigating similar law suits the year before that. A 2019 report by the NY Daily News makes reference to the City Comptroller’s annual report for 2018 in which the figure of $230 million was referenced in relation to lawsuits against the NYPD for the financial year 2018. In fact, the total amount relating to claims against the City as a whole, including the NYPD claims, for 2018 was $1.1 billion.

 

According to the City Comptroller’s annual report for 2019, the City resolved total claims in the amount of $975 million, a drop from 2018. The report detailed that NYPD claims for that year amounted to $220.1 million. The $754 million difference was made of claims relating to medical malpractice, civil rights, claims against the sanitation department, labor and employment claims, law claims, special education claims, contract claims, alternative dispute resolution claims and affirmative claims.

 

Referring to high number of COVID-19 deaths within the Black community, Cabrera continued, “If we truly believe in a more just and equitable society – one where our Black brothers and sisters are no longer the subjects of such harrowing statistics, then we need to speak up against these injustices now”.

 

“As health care workers, we have a unique platform to elevate the voices and stories of others. We see how racism harms our patients each and every day. Change starts with us and we can’t continue to accept what’s been beyond unacceptable for far too long.”

 

A second female speaker, Rosemary Mason RN, echoed Cabrera’s comments about speaking up to advocate for those health care workers served. “We also have an obligation to serve, without biases, everyone that comes under our care – no matter race, creed, or ability to pay,” she said, adding that the country had arrived at a point where people of color are being harassed every single day and children are unable to walk the streets. “We have to put an end to that inequality and injustice,” she said, adding that correcting the problem started with each person.

Mason then spoke about the murder of George Floyd. “He was recently murdered at the hands of police officers who became his judge and his jury right there on the scene,” she said. “A knee was placed into this man’s neck and we recognize the time that it took for that man to be sitting on that man’s neck until he died. Not only that – we watched the video of how he was scooped up like an animal and thrown on a gurney as if there was no dignity or consideration for his well-being”.

 

On the same day, members of the New York Police Benevolent Association held a press conference where they addressed the death of George Floyd, and the subsequent protests that were taking place across the City and country against police brutality,  saying the police had “been left out of the conversation”.

 

Mike O’Meara, president of the association, said that there are 375 million interactions between NYPD and the public each year with overwhelmingly positive responses. O’Meara added,”I am not Derek Chauvin,” referring to the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd on May 25, kneeling on his back and neck for 8 minutes and 45 seconds and causing him to choke, despite Floyd pleading with him that he could not breathe. He called Chauvin’s actions disgusting. “They are not him,” O’Meara said, pointing to his colleagues. “He killed someone; we didn’t.”

Meanwhile, back at Jacobi, health workers stood in a moments silence to remember those lost to police brutality. Some displayed signs which read, “Racism is the other pandemic we’re fighting. #BLM” and “Racism Kills, Nurses Heal”.

 

Mason said people were tired of hearing similar stories to George Floyd’s about Black men and women being harassed, laid on, assaulted, and murdered by the same authority who took an oath to protect and serve people of all races and creed. “Say his name!” she said, to which the crowd responded, “George Floyd!”, before wrapping up her speech with, “Black Lives Matter!”

 

*Miriam Quinones contributed reporting to this story.