We mourn and stand in solidarity with the family and friends of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other victims of state-sponsored violence—as well as the courageous protestors in this fight against racially-charged mass murder. Their tragic deaths are the result of a pandemic—one of systemic, brutal, violence against BIPOC (Black, Indigenous & People of Color), sanctioned by our country’s laws, policies, and practices. 

 

We see the injustice of bloated, militarized police budgets and simultaneous lack of investment in an equitable COVID-19 response. We live in a country wherein all of our systems—from policing to incarceration to healthcare, and more—strive to not just devalue Black people, but kill them. These atrocities are responsible for thousands of deaths disproportionately affecting BIPOC communities. 

 

As an organization committed to the right to health, we acknowledge racism as a pandemic and public health crisis. We promise to commit ourselves to the ongoing responsibility of dismantling racism: the structural and genocidal disease intentionally designed to sequester wealth, power, and health for white people—at the brutal expense of BIPOC. We promise to learn, understand, and leverage the various privileges and positions we hold for justice and equity. We will continually work to be anti-racist. We promise to confront and work to eradicate the reality that racism and anti-blackness live within us and construct every system we are a part of. We will continue to fight for a world free of state-sponsored violence and irresponsible global and domestic health policies that steal the lives of the very people from whom the wealth of the powerful was, and continues to be, taken.