WVU Medicine health-care workers take part in White Coats for Black Lives on Monday outside J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital. Attendees kneeled for more than eight minutes in remembrance of George Floyd.
WVU Medicine health care workers take part in White Coats for Black Lives on Monday outside J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
Staff photo by Clarissa Cottrill
WVU Medicine health care workers take part in White Coats for Black Lives on Monday outside J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
Staff photo by Clarissa Cottrill
WVU Medicine health care workers take part in White Coats for Black Lives on Monday outside J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
Staff photo by Clarissa Cottrill
WVU Medicine health care workers take a knee during White Coats for Black Lives on Monday outside J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
Staff photo by Clarissa Cottrill
WVU Medicine health-care workers take part in White Coats for Black Lives on Monday outside J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital. Attendees kneeled for more than eight minutes in remembrance of George Floyd.
Staff photo by Clarissa Cottrill
WVU Medicine health-care workers take a knee during White Coats for Black Lives on Monday outside J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
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Staff photo by Clarissa Cottrill
WVU Medicine health care workers take part in White Coats for Black Lives on Monday outside J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
Staff photo by Clarissa Cottrill
WVU Medicine health care workers hold signs during White Coats for Black Lives on Monday outside J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
Staff photo by Clarissa Cottrill
WVU Medicine health care workers march in White Coats for Black Lives on Monday outside J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
MORGANTOWN — Morgantown saw another peaceful protest on Monday as WVU Medicine health-care workers came together at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital to show support for racial justice.
White Coats for Black Lives brought medical professionals donning lab coats, scrubs and plenty of face masks out to the lawn across from the hospital and in front of the West Virginia University football stadium to be part of a demonstration in remembrance of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, sparking worldwide protests.
Dr. Jennifer Knight Davis, a surgeon at WVU Medicine, played a role in bringing the event to Morgantown after she and her colleagues saw similar health-care demonstrations at other facilities.
“We thought that it would be a great way for busy health-care providers here who may not be able to participate in some of the other peaceful protests to be able to do something here,” she said.
Getting the medical personnel together was primarily done through social media, and the idea caught on rapidly as most of the lawn was filled with health-care workers.
“We put it out there, tried to tag some people that we thought would be interested and want to participate and I think the word spread from there,” she said. “I think that’s a testament to everyone’s desire right now to stand up and be heard.”
The crowd silently kneeled for nearly nine minutes to mark how long former police officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee pushed into Floyd’s neck, and then marched around the hospital parking lot with some carrying signs in support of the message that Black Lives Matter.
“I think that there is certainly a momentum that we’re feeling now, which is positive for everyone,” Knight Davis said, adding that more demonstrations could be in the future as nationwide responses to police brutality and racial injustice continue.
This was the latest peaceful protest in Morgantown, with marches starting last week in the downtown area. Folks have consistently come out to the demonstrations after Sammantha Norris, of Morgantown, organized the first major one nearly a week ago.
Many health care workers are in busy work schedules, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and Knight Davis said the White Coats for Black Lives offered them a chance to come together and take a stand — and a knee — for the cause.
“As health care professionals, we have the desire to be able to help people, and we’re in a crisis right now in the country,” she said. “If we can use our voices, or our silence in this case, to be able to advocate for others, we’d like to be able to do that.”
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