Social Justice

Racism is a Public Health Crisis

ILLUMINATING SYSTEMIC RACIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL INJUSTICES

SF Bay PSR and National PSR have joined Organizations in Solidarity in partnership with more than 300 individuals and organizations who signed the Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS) and the solidarity statement, Standing Together Against Racism and Discrimination in the United States. We are committed to working with our colleagues to uphold their mission “to combat racism and discrimination in all of its manifestations as individuals and in our organizations and in so doing, diversify the fields of peace and security, foreign policy, and national security, making our work more inclusive and equitable.”

Black Lives Matter. Our SF Bay PSR chapter joins with National PSR and other local chapters in condemning the murders of Tyre Nichols, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others who have been killed simply for “living while Black.” Like many people around the world, we watched in horror while a white police officer with seemingly no concern pinned George Floyd to the ground and held him there with a knee to his neck for nine long minutes.

As health care professionals, we are all too aware of the physical damage that such brutal force wreaks on the human body, let alone the emotional and psychological harm done to those forced to watch their child, parent, sibling, or spouse be subjected to such inhumane treatment.

In mourning the death of George Floyd and too many others, we stand in solidarity with protesters across the U.S. and around the world who demand expedited criminal justice reform, and an end to police violence and the over-policing of Black and Brown people. But our concern must go deeper than this. As the COVID-19 Pandemic has highlighted vast inequities in care and treatment, income and wealth, and divisions of labor, the murder of George Floyd, and the protests that followed cast in sharp relief long-standing structures of racial inequality and white supremacy.

More resources can be found on our Advocacy Tools page.

OUR PROJECTS

  • RACIAL EQUITY READING GROUP: an informal reading and discussion group to learn more about issues of racial equity, particularly as they relate to the fields of public health and medicine. For more information and to join (non-physicians are welcome) please CLICK HERE.
  • EVENTS: Our events series focuses primarily on the connections between climate change, health inequities, systemic racism, and nuclear abolition. To that end, we have hosted the following events and look forward to more opportunities to educate our members and the public.
    • The Public Health Threat of Policing and Mass Incarceration, May 2021, watch recording here.
    • Environmental Injustice in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point: Addressing the Enduring Health Harms of Nuclear Weapons in Our Own Backyard, October 2020, watch recording here
    • The Fire Next Time: The Devastating Effects of Climate Change, Racism, and Health Inequities on Black and Brown Communities,October 2020, watch recording here
  • COMMUNITY-LED NONPROFIT SUPPORT: SF Bay PSR works in close collaboration with a wide network of allies in climate, toxics, nuclear weapons, racial and social justice, including medical associations. Also, SF Bay PSR provides community-led projects with financial, administrative, and scientific support to honor our commitment to environmental justice organizations throughout the Bay Area. Read more about these inspiring organizations here.

San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility will not be silent. We commit to using our voice and influence to hold accountable police and local, state, and national lawmakers and pledge to work to dismantle unjust policies and practices that cause continued harm, and even death, to Black and Brown people.

Statement on Public Health Threat of Policing

We at SF Bay PSR are deeply saddened and outraged by the recent killing by police of Duante Wright, 13-year-old Adam Toledo, and the daily killings of people, particularly people of color, by police in the US. It must stop. Our hearts go out to their families and communities. Please WATCH the recording of our event and discussion, The Public Health Threat of Policing and Mass Incarceration with Zach Norris, executive director of the Ella Baker Center, and Dr. Jennifer James, professor and researcher at University of California, San Francisco.

Racism is a public health crisis and we are committed to exposing the interconnections of racism in climate, environmental, health equity, and anti-nuclear issues.

Statement on Violence Against Asian American Pacific Islander Communities

All of us at SF Bay PSR are saddened and appalled by the recent alarming rise in attacks on Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities. We stand in solidarity with Asian Americans Pacific Islanders in San Francisco, Oakland, California, and across the country who have been and are being targeted.

Report incidents to Stop AAPI Hate
American Journal of Public Health: Critical Race Theory, Race Equity, and Public Health: Toward Antiracism Praxis
CNBC: How to support Asian American colleagues amid the recent wave of anti-Asian violence
NPR: Anti-Asian Attacks Rise During Pandemic