- And the summer of
2020 was really hard.

(soft tense music)

We were all, I think,
feeling isolated and stunned.

When we finally started talking
about the issues of race,

and I kept waiting for
something to happen,

and nothing seemed
to be developing,

specifically for
healthcare professionals,

and so I talked to
our whole department,

and the medical students
and the residents

I worked with, we
decided to partner

with White Coats
for Black Lives,

and to organize our own rally.

Safety was at the
utmost importance

for all of us,
because we didn't want

to take ourselves out of
the essential workforce,

and so we decided
that a silent sit-in

would probably be the most safe.

It felt really
good for all of us,

to be there, and to
be there in force,

and to have our voice heard,

and for us to come
together like that.

I think messaging and
witnessing are important,

but only up to a
point, and systems

are very, very hard to change.

At some point, you can't
spend all your energy

just messaging, and witnessing,

and demonstrating
and protesting,

you have to really
transform that into action.

But I think at key moments,

when everybody has this
need to come together

for our message, it
serves that purpose.

So it felt like a
good starting point.