Noted radiology department denounces recent violence against Asians: ‘Another stark reminder’
A noted academic radiology department is joining other physicians in denouncing recent violence against Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The murder of eight individuals in Atlanta on March 16 serves as “another stark reminder of the toll that racism and misogyny takes on our society.” University of California, San Francisco, imaging professionals are urging the specialty to support others amid this uptick in violence.
“In our own spheres, we ask that you each find meaningful ways to join in solidarity with members of our community,” the UCSF Department of Radiology said in a statement issued Friday, March 19. “Documented increases over the past year in crimes targeting Asian and Asian-American people compel us to denounce racism and xenophobia in whatever forms they take—microaggressions, bias, prejudice, stereotypes, tropes, scapegoating.”
Six of those murdered Tuesday by 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long were women of such descent. Stop AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) Hate recently released data detailing nearly 3,800 firsthand reports of violence, discrimination and harassment against these individuals since the pandemic started. Last October, radiologists from several institutions also tackled this concern, offering advice including training department staffers to spot microaggressions and teaching techniques to safely intervene as a bystander. UCSF similarly shared several resources for those facing this issue.
“We also recognize that after a year of pandemic stressors, this and other recent incidents targeting Asians and Asian-Americans may surface feelings of outrage, fear, sadness, anxiety, exhaustion. As our organization works to address systemic racism, UCSF also offers resources to support individual well-being,” UCSF said.
The American Medical Association condemned the attack on Wednesday while calling for “commonsense” firearm reform to prevent further bloodshed.
“We are angered and appalled by last night’s shootings which left eight people dead in Georgia—attacks that appeared to target the Asian-American community specifically,” AMA President Susan Bailey, MD, said March 17. “As we saw again in this case, gun violence is a public health crisis in our country, killing more than 30,000 Americans each year,” she added later.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.