It has been a long and momentous week. As I sat mesmerized by the events as I channel surfed the internet, television, Twitter, Facebook and other news (fake, or otherwise) I realized that although many bad things happened to people, by people it brought the chronic problems of black Americans and black people around the world to an everyday event. This does not apply to only black people, but those refugees forced to migrate due to wars in the middle east causing muslims to migrate to Western Europe. I saw protests occuring in many worldwide cities.
One story stood out.
"Minneapolis Clinic Looted During Protests"
Minneapolis Clinic Looted During Protests | MedPage Today: But docs support protesters' goal: 'Property is property and that can be sacrificed for justice'
— But docs support protesters' goal: "Property is property and that can be sacrificed for justice"
When Andrea Westby, MD, arrived at Broadway Family Medicine Clinic in northern Minneapolis on Saturday morning, she was aghast at what she saw. It was boarded up -- as were neighboring store fronts in the strip mall -- and one of the clinic's windows was broken in. Westby walked inside and saw a water-damaged carpet and empty spaces where a lobby television and several computers had been.
When I first saw the above photo my thought was 'drugs'. I was sadly mistaken and realized I am a part of the 'systemic racial problems' in America. There were no drugs involved, just consumer products such as computers, and televisions, to be used for personal consumption or for sale probably to purchase food and necessities for life.
Dr Westby said, "It is really hard to have our clinical space damaged," said Westby, a professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Minnesota.
Still, she believes in the larger message of the protests: "We want to see real actionable change come out of this. We are doing what we can in a crisis right now. It's really important that our community gets our voices heard."
Broadway Medical Clinic is an affiliate of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, and many of their familly practice residents see patients at the clinic. This clinic is a store front office along a major street, and does not stand out from other retail stores. As looters travel down Yonge Street it is an easy target to snatch and grab items. Looters would not stand out in a crowd of hundreds marching and protesting.
The looters gave little thought to the personel and capital invested by the University of Minnesota. Physicians as a whole give little thought to the color of their patients, No doubt the area is underserved and health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and chronic medical illnesses. are more aware of the The people are more likely to contract and have more serious illnesses such as COVID-19.
Minneapolis Clinic Looted During Protests | MedPage Today: But docs support protesters' goal: 'Property is property and that can be sacrificed for justice'
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