A good friend who works in College Station, home of the venerable Texas A&M University, called, saying, "You know this movement is real when deep in the heart of Texas, medical students are joining in for change." It turns out, Texas A&M answered the call announced on the Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) website. They were engaging.
Lakecia Pitts is a second-year medical student at Texas A&M Health Science College of Medicine who helped put the event together. "It was pretty much a national event put on by medical students all over the country," Pitts explained, "in order to bring the country national awareness to the issue of injustice that we are seeing in our country. In particular, the authorities reached the decision not to indict the police officers that killed Michael Brown and Eric Garner."
Pitts said that this was a very-last minute event, considering the medical students only heard about it the day before the event was scheduled. They immediately jumped into action by using social media to announce it. Even with a short notice, they got 20-plus medical students to participate. Considering that Texas A&M's medical program is not very large, the last-minute undertaking was very successful.
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According to Pitts, the event looked like America—multicultural, with blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians, and many other ethnicities participating. They got together and made several signs. They then put on their white coats and had a very organized protest.
"We do not support injustice," Pitts said. "America is better than that. ... We want to do our part in helping to bring about justice to the victims and their families. .. Even though it was last minute, we wanted to be involved."
When asked why she felt the zeal to take time out of a medical student's mentally taxing and busy life, her answer was simple: she was outraged. As a black woman with black brothers, fathers, grandfathers, cousins, nephews, and others, she understood that every single one of them could become a victim to this type of injustice, to this national cancer.
Pitts acknowledged that this injustice has been going on for a long time. The ubiquity of videos everywhere puts it square in front of the eyes of every American. "It really upset me," said Pitts. "It's just not right."
The Texas A&M students did a great thing in the way they tied this particular injustice that disproportionately afflicts people of color to other injustices that share the same modal. "I am hoping that we can keep the momentum going to keep this from happening," Pitts said. "And that we can really bring some solutions to these issues not just police brutality but racial and subconscious biases as it pertains to health care as well as other social injustices."
This event was a national protest on campuses nationwide, staged at most of America's prestigious universities from Harvard to Texas A&M to North Carolina. Over 70 universities of stature participated in states throughout our nation. One should ask why a tea party rally gets much media attention and this type of event does not.
How many know that the September climate change rally in New York brought over 310,000 participants? How many know there was a large TPP rally in DC earlier this year? How many know there was a large Keystone XL pipeline rally in front of the White House protesting its construction? Not many. Why? Because our traditional media is being used as a weapon of control. Ignorance causes "regressiveness" and allows the populace to be controlled.
It will take social movements for America to solve all of its ills. Decentralized and independent movements fighting causes using social media and other alternate means of communication are imperative to force solutions to social injustice, income and wealth disparity, and the many other ills afflicting the nation.
The White Coat Die-Ins showed us a template that works. It is time to ramp up. At the same time, one must be vigilant and ensure that net neutrality (a wide-open internet for all) is maintained lest the movement be crippled before it bears fruit.
Pitts' final statement is one we must all strive for: "I am hoping that through this movement we can actually come together as a nation not just black people, but all people, to bring about the justice that we seek."