Read on Twitter
1/ New paper! @mathewkiang and I take a look at the statements issued by top 50 medical school deans following George Floyd's killing and the subsequent unrest. https://twitter.com/medrxivpreprint/status/1278466317696356358
2/ We were inspired to undertake this analysis after one of us read a statement issued by an academic medical center that was framed as though #GeorgeFloyd somehow spontaneously died of unknown causes. He did not. The cause was known. The cause of causes is also known.
3/ Floyd was killed by a @MinneapolisPD officer who knelt on his neck for 7 minutes and 46 seconds while he was handcuffed, lying prone, pleading for his life, and calling out for his mother. The #GeorgeFloydProtests are still going on. DON'T STOP 
4/ In times like these you might expect anchor institutions to publicly stand for core values, articulate shared commitments in a time of crisis, and provide reassurance that they are looking for ways to create a path forward.
5/ Reassurance is not nothing. Black medical school students, staff, & faculty may be feeling distressed (yes this is a thing-- see our @TheLancet paper on police killings... https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31130-9/fulltext), devalued & undervalued, & looking to their institutions for leadership.
6/ Are med school deans reading the room? We obtained the 1st statements issued by top 50 medical schools (n=56 if you look at top 50 @NIH funding + top 50 @usnews), tokenized them, removed uninformative stop words, and stemmed the remaining words using the Porter algorithm
7/ Drawing on crisis management theory, we examined the statements for prespecified elements--eg, did they explicitly mention the word "police", did they say anything abt "racism" (not "racial prejudice" or my fav, "racial unrest"), etc. Low bar. Simple analysis.
8/ Results: Most identified #GeorgeFloyd by name, <50% named #BreonnaTaylor or #AhmaudArbery. About 75% acknowledged the Black community specifically, or mentioned racism or negative sequelae of racism (eg., health disparities).
9/ Results (cont'd): Only HALF of the deans ACTUALLY MENTIONED "POLICE" OR NAMED WHAT THEY DID TO FLOYD >>
<< Only 7/56 (13%) used terms denoting active support (eg, "antiracism", #BlackLivesMatter 
). All (100%) included hopeful language (eg, "inclusion", "solidarity" etc)
<< Only 7/56 (13%) used terms denoting active support (eg, "antiracism", #BlackLivesMatter ). All (100%) included hopeful language (eg, "inclusion", "solidarity" etc)
10/ We didn't do any manual coding, but if we had, I suspect we could have identified a lot of passive voice, desperate contortions to avoid saying the word "police" (eg "the actions that led to his death"), no concrete action plans, blah blah COVID reopening, stuff like that.
11/ Bird's eye view is below. If you think you are seeing a lot of white spaces (
), you are.
), you are.
12/ These findings bring to mind the @statnews piece by @chijioke_nze and colleagues: "But what good is solidarity that is powerless to name what we stand against? What is this vague solidarity that cannot use the words 'racism' or 'police brutality'?" https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/05/physician-advocacy-against-police-brutality-thisisourlanetoo/
13/ Looking beyond the criticisms of such statements as being toothless & largely performative: what next? Words are not *totally* meaningless. But @HipHopPrez draws a distinction btwn "thin words" and "thick action", and suggests: "No more statements." https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/06/03/president-discusses-need-go-beyond-statements-response-killing-george-floyd-opinion
14/ Likewise @valstonemd recently exhorted in the @AnnalsofIM: "It is time to do something new, to change how we see our commitment to the Black community...to stand against racism & racially motivated violence, one that goes beyond words to real action." https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-4280
15/ In this regard, med students are leading the way. Like @GeiselMed students including @melanin_med and others at @Dartmouth_SNMA, APAMSA & LMSA who followed up their dean's initial statement with specific requests...
16/ Or the @harvardmed students led by @TomiOjo3 @BrynFalahee @LianetVazquez @resoundreveries and others, who have been pushing for stronger antiracist investments in health equity: https://twitter.com/ShawnJohnsonBOS/status/1274038325574336513
17/ @laurakrantz @fernandesglobe & @ditikohli_ had a nice piece out in @bostonglobe a few days ago giving us reasons to be hopeful: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/26/metro/amid-national-reckoning-race-college-students-lead-push-change-campus/
18/ Only time will tell. Some corporations are stepping up with actual $$$$. @rashadrobinson & @ColorOfChange are working on a campaign to keep the pressure on: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52896265
19/ There will be metrics: "Progress will be determined by how quickly CEOs can pivot from decades of 'say' to an era of 'do.'" https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-ceos-pressure-is-on-to-pivot-from-say-to-do-on-inequality-11593183622?shareToken=stf305e672de5e42149cd9efd3cf9fc66f
20/ We'll see what happens with medical schools. (Is there a version of #StopHateForProfit for medical schools?) As usual, @ass_deans is spot on 
https://twitter.com/ass_deans/status/1275796105188577280?s=20
https://twitter.com/ass_deans/status/1275796105188577280?s=20
21/21 That's it for now. Let's end with some @mcsweeneys https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/we-condemn-all-institutional-racism-except-our-own
