St. Luke’s Health System locations around Idaho participated in a “White Coats for Black Lives’ initiative that is happening around the U.S.
The St. Luke’s medical professionals voluntarily gathered at specified locations on each campus for 8 minutes and 46-second of silence to publicly commit to improved safety and health care for people of color.
This event was to honor George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a white police officer during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020.
St. Luke's Locations that participated were:
- Boise
- Eagle
- Elmore
- Fruitland
- Magic Valley
- McCall
- Meridian
- Nampa
- Wood River
White Coats for Black Lives’ mission is “To dismantle racism in medicine and promote the health, well-being, and self-determination of people of color.”
A post on their Facebook page proclaims, “We have to fight together to shape the medical education that will bring justice to this world. We are calling on you to join us as we demand action from our institution. We must better to combat anti-racism and bring health equity to the communities we serve...”
WhiteCoats4BlackLives is a medical student-run organization created from the National White Coat Die-In demonstrations that took place on December 10, 2014. Read more about their origins here:
WhiteCoats4BlackLives Origin
Images copyright by Totally Boise