On Friday, June 5, 2020, Montefiore University Hospital for Albert Einstein College of Medicine stood in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the call for a more equitable and just society, when staff held a nine-minute silent tribute to George Floyd, the unarmed African-American man who was murdered at the hands of police in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020.

 

Floyd died of asphyxiation after a White police officer, who has since been charged, pinned him face down on the ground and knelt on his back and neck for nine minutes, even as he pleaded for air and whispered the immortal words, “I can’t breathe”, words already synonymous with the Black Lives Matter movement, and a rallying cry used to highlight the issue of police brutality against African-Americans.

 

Irene Blanco, M.D., M.S. Associate Dean, Diversity Enhancement, wrote a letter to her colleagues at other Montefiore campuses dated Jun. 4, the content of which was shared with the media, in which she called on them to join from their various locations with staff at Einstein for the nine-minute silent tribute to Floyd.

 

The letter read in part, “Structural racism and its inequities are a plague in our society and, as physicians and biomedical scientists, we can show our support for our Black brethren—at Einstein, Montefiore and beyond—by demanding that it be dismantled once and for all, replaced by solutions that truly demonstrate that all in our nation are created equal”.

 

“In that regard, we invite you to join the departments of medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics & gynecology and women’s health, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and family and social medicine, along with the offices of diversity and inclusion and of diversity enhancement on Friday, June 5, 2020, at 1 p.m. for a moment of solidarity and reflection.”

 

A tribute was held at three separate Montefiore locations simultaneously. At Einstein, staff met on the lawn in front of the Price Center/Block Research Pavilion, and at Montefiore, they met at the Moses campus, on the sidewalks along Gun Hill Road, as well as on Bainbridge Avenue near the entrance to Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. A third event also took place at the Montefiore Wakefield campus.

 

“We will observe a nine-minute moment of silence, one minute for every minute that George Floyd could not breathe,” the letter continued. “We will stand together with all those who are uniting so that the Black members of our communities—our friends, colleagues, classmates, families, and neighbors—can be freed from the injustices of structural racism that very often limit a community’s resources, and the opportunities for individuals to fully realize their potential, while also threatening their very existence.”

 

The letter highlighted that given a large turnout was expected, the event would be held in a space that could accommodate social distancing. Masks and six-foot spacing was mandatory and had to be observed at all times. Blanco said the event would go ahead rain or shine, and as long as lightning didn’t pose a threat to safety, which it did not in the end.

 

After the 9 minutes of silence, the crowd yelled “I can’t breathe” followed by George Floyd’s name, reaching all corners of the nearby intersection.