A response to letters “TMPG CEO: A Call for Unity” (5/30/2020)¹, and “An important message from Tom Hanenburg and Richard Isaacs, MD” (6/10/2020)²

Dear Dr. Isaacs, Dr. Bell, Dr. Copeland, Mr. Hanenburg, Mr. Meisner and Ms. Thornburg,

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks have sparked global outrage and condemnation. Demonstrations have been larger, broader, more sustained and more diverse than any in recent decades.

In response to these events, you in TPMG and KFH senior leadership have condemned racism. You have expressed support not for protests per se, but for those “moments of silence and remembrance” which have been “peaceful, nondisruptive.”

You have challenged us to have “empathy, listen, acknowledge each other’s feelings, and create a psychologically safe environment that allows open dialogue about what we’re experiencing and how to support each other during this difficult time.” Resources have been allocated for listening and open dialogue sessions, webinars, and educational resources. Corporate consultants have been hired. Attendance has been optional. We have been reminded about our Employee Assistance Program, and that Kaiser values “diversity” in its employees.

You proclaim that Kaiser will position itself as a national leader of the change that we need.

You are proud of this work that you are doing. You want to send a message of solidarity to your colleagues, especially the black ones.

But do you really know what solidarity looks like for your black colleagues?

“Black Lives Matter” has become a rallying cry no longer too radical for the mainstream. The more cynical among us might think that at this point most corporations are just pandering for profit.

We appealed to you in a letter written in 2017 that while you have done good work in some areas, “there is more to be done.”³ In light of recent events, many have asked you, have pleaded that you take a stance against police violence in the black community by supporting Black Lives Matter.

Systems of white supremacy perpetuate a message that black lives do not matter. A declaration of solidarity with this cause could have been profound alongside a sustained commitment to dismantle white supremacy in our institution.

You focus on “acts of hate against individuals,” and “events of this nature.” It is magical thinking to conceptualize that what is going on here is isolated, discreet, incidental, or aberrant.

It’s far worse. It’s insidious. It’s systemic.

In the United States of America all institutions — criminal justice, finance, education, healthcare — are steeped in a history of white supremacy, anti-blackness and enduring violence against marginalized groups. Kaiser is an American corporation, a behemoth in healthcare. As such, it epitomizes the very concept of the American institution.

The fact is that police have been a violent force against black and other marginalized people since the beginning of policing. American policing was created to uphold and to protect white supremacy.

To begin to make this right we need to have some process of truth and reconciliation.⁴

We should start by acknowledging where and how we cause harm:

1. To the indigenous nations of Northern California, as an institution within a country that was built upon cultural genocide and displacement of native peoples. We conduct our business on stolen land, and we have made no efforts to acknowledge this and create a path toward truth and reconciliation.⁵
2. To the descendents of African slaves, as an institution within a country whose entire economy was built on 300 years of chattel slavery, which continued domestically for several decades after international abolition. Jim Crow Laws began immediately following the ratification of the 13th Amendment and continued for roughly 100 years, ending in 1968, just two years before I was born.⁶ ⁷ ⁸

And now we have the multibillion dollar industry that is our criminal justice system, that disproportionately impacts blacks and Latinxs. The Prison Industrial Complex spans multiple sectors and overlapping interests of government and industry, and it is completely dependent upon policing and surveillance to maintain profitability.

White supremacy is violent, and violence is a public health crisis. These very recent instances of unmitigated police violence against black people are but a sliver of this crisis that has captured the consciousness of what seems like the entire world, for the time being at least.

We must start with the truth.

As we move beyond a rudimentary analysis of the work that is to be done, I would like you to reconsider your habitual use of the terms “diversity and inclusion.” Angela Davis explains it well:

“I have a hard time accepting diversity as a synonym for justice. Diversity is a corporate strategy… and diversity without structural transformation simply brings those who were previously excluded into a system as racist and misogynist as it was before.”

Language is important. If we choose to tackle this problem with the academic rigor that we do other disease processes, then we elevate our discourse beyond the banal and insubstantial and truly begin to position ourselves as leaders.

Respectfully yours,

Rachel Hartshorn, MD

References

1. Letter “TPMG CEO: A Call for Unity” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o7ln2zYBW13EEStPoLb521XVccuP1ZVJtZ6TarK1n9g/edit?usp=sharing
2. Letter “An important message from Tom Hanenburg and Richard Isaacs, MD” https://docs.google.com/document/d/11bA0BVwh5kXCakDICxPcB-fGpYXR4a5ETythlvDtHUw/edit?usp=sharing
3. Letter “A Call for Kaiser Permanente to Speak Out Against Racism” https://medium.com/@donoharmkp/a-call-for-kaiser-permanente-to-speak-out-against-racism-c3173f82cb04#.5hfjgbxpb
4. About Truth and Reconciliation Commision in South Africa, https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/
5. Indian Health Service statistics on health disparities, https://www.ihs.gov/newsroom/factsheets/disparities/
6. See DuVuerney’s 13th. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5895028/
7. CDC statistics on African American health disparities, https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aahealth/index.html
8. Understanding the Prison Industrial Complex https://www.arabellaadvisors.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Understanding-and-Confronting-the-Prison-Industrial-Complex.pdf