Medical students nationwide staged a “white coat die-in” on Wednesday as protests continued in the wake of grand jury decisions in the deaths of two black men, Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
Last month, a grand jury in Missouri declined to indict a white Ferguson police officer in the Aug. 9 shooting death of Brown, an unarmed black teenager. A week later, a grand jury in Staten Island decided not to indict a white New York Police Department officer in the chokehold death of Garner during an attempted arrest. Police said Garner was illegally selling untaxed cigarettes.
On Wednesday afternoon, demonstrators on multiple medical school campuses positioned themselves on the floors outside entryways and in halls, forming small seas of white jackets dotted with the messages of protest. Some held a moment of silence for 45 minutes in recognition of the 4 1/2 hours that Brown’s body remained in the street on Canfield Drive in Ferguson after he was killed.
We see you @JohnsHopkins! Proud graduate of A&S RT @Lnonblonde: in Baltimore #whitecoats4blacklives @catherinewcai pic.twitter.com/lIwsqoYPkZ”
— Nicole D. Porter (@nicoleporter) December 11, 2014
@deray Brown University #whitecoats4blacklives die-in #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/TaPoIvvqh2
— Q (@soliloquyen) December 11, 2014
UCSD #whitecoats4blacklives "I challenge you to critically evaluate what other privileges society has given you." pic.twitter.com/xNWj7gedMw
— Nicole Tantoco, MD, MPH (@ntantoco) December 11, 2014
Intl Human Rights Day coincides with Ntl White Coat Die-In Day RT @she_RIKA @UCSF #whitecoats4blacklives http://t.co/OZaXS65yIB
— Benita Panigrahi, MD, MS (@BenitaPani) December 10, 2014
Proud of my #BLACKandSTEM homies (and allies) who participated in #WhiteCoats4BlackLives! https://t.co/4CxepsMe1K pic.twitter.com/gtyo0Ul3hb
— Molly Alawode, MSc, CHES (@_malawode) December 10, 2014
Chicago White Coat Die-In: UIC, Rush & Northwestern med students protesting#whitecoats4blacklives #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/v0qY4G1kvq
— Christiana Shoushtari Corvin, MD MPH (@CShoush) December 10, 2014
Beautiful!! @MountSinaiNYC - over 100 deans, doctors, & med students in solidarity w/ #whitecoats4blacklives pic.twitter.com/PLFZ4zYTiq
— LunaticFringer (@LunaticFringer2) December 11, 2014
“@DabAggin: What do future doctors do on a cold day in the heart of North Philly? This. #WhiteCoats4BlackLives http://t.co/APWlEfKBGr”
— Deva (@dlcblove) December 11, 2014
UMass Med students lay down for 4.5 minutes in solidarity over Brown, Garner deaths. #whitecoats4blacklives pic.twitter.com/P0NR6gK0Rz
— Sara Schweiger (@SchweigerSara) December 10, 2014
At UNC, more than 70 students are participating #whitecoats4blacklives pic.twitter.com/7fw2SQRknn
— Bradley Saacks (@SaacksAttack) December 10, 2014