「人種差別のウイルスとも闘う」　ひざまずくＮＹの医療従事者たち

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米ミネソタ州ミネアポリスで、アフリカ系のジョージ・フロイドさんが白人警官に首を膝で押さえつけられ死亡した事件をめぐり、抗議デモが続く米国。ニューヨークでは先週、新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）と闘う英雄として称賛される医療従事者らがデモに参加し、公衆衛生システムにおける人種差別を非難した。（写真は米ニューヨークのベルビュー病院前で、「Black　Lives　Matter（黒人の命は大切）」運動のデモに参加する医療従事者ら）
　マンハッタンにあるベルビュー病院では、医療従事者ら約１００人が短時間病院を出て、抗議デモを行った。医療服に身を包み、マスクやフェースシールドなどを着用して、米国の構造的な人種差別に反対した。
　「すべての人に医療を」「人種差別が患者を殺す」などと書かれたプラカードを掲げながら、フロイドさんが警官に首を押さえつけられていた時間と同じ８分４６秒間、静かにひざまずいた。
　ベルビュー病院の救急医カミニ・ドゥーベイさんは、「私たちはすべてのコミュニティーに奉仕し、公衆衛生を守ることを宣誓しました。今起こっている武力の過剰な行使と警察による残虐な行為は、公衆衛生上の緊急事態です」と語った。ドゥーベイさんは、デモの参加を呼び掛けた一人。ニューヨークにあるの六つの病院を巻き込んだ。
　黒人の看護師ビリー・ジーンさんは「新型コロナウイルス感染症（ＣＯＶＩＤ-１９）と闘っている専門家として、私は人種差別のウイルスとも闘い続けています」と人々に訴えた。
　ニューヨーク市の新型コロナウイルスによる死者数は、約２万１０００人。同市の黒人コミュニティーの新型ウイルスによる致死率は白人コミュニティーの２倍に上っている。
　公式の集計によると、新型ウイルスで命を落とした人の２３％近くは黒人だったという。米人口で黒人が占める割合は１３．４％にすぎない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/09-13:13）

New York nurses and doctors, hailed as heroes for fighting the coronavirus outbreak, are denouncing racial segregation in the public health system by joining the George Floyd protests.
Wearing masks, hospital scrubs and other personal protective equipment like face visors, about a hundred-something medical workers briefly walked out of Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital Thursday to demonstrate against structural racism in America.
They held signs reading Health care for all and Racism kills my patients, and knelt silently for eight minutes and 46 seconds -- the length of time a Minneapolis police officer pressed down on Floyd's neck before he died.
We took an oath to serve all communities, we took an oath to protect public health and right now excessive use of force and police brutality is a public health emergency, said Kamini Doobay.
Doobay, an emergency doctor at Bellevue, was one of the organizers of Thursday's co-ordinated protests which involved six hospitals across New York.
As a health care professional currently fighting COVID-19, I also continue to fight the virus of racism, Billy Jean, a nurse who is black, told the crowd.
The coronavirus epidemic, which killed around 21,000 New York City residents, has disproportionately affected minority communities, including African Americans.
Almost 23 percent of those who have died across the United States are black, according to official figures, despite black people making up just 13.4 percent of the population.
In New York, members of the black community died at twice the rate of white people.
Health professionals say a lack of universal health care means underprivileged groups don't receive treatments available to the more wealthy.
We see patients of color disproportionately dying from chronic illnesses, not getting proper follow up, and of course we see the deadly violence that plagues these communities, said 28-year-old doctor Damilola Idowu.
Black men coming in with gunshot wounds, and of course the effects of police brutality on our patients, we see all that, she told AFP.
On Tuesday, dozens of doctors and nurses from Mount Sinai Hospital took to the streets to applaud thousands of protesters marching up Fifth Avenue.
Similar spontaneous protests have taken place outside other hospitals in New York and elsewhere in the country, including the Texas Medical Center in Houston and Howard University Hospital in Washington DC.
The applause was reminiscent of the 7:00 PM clap for medical staff that has become a daily ritual for New Yorkers during the coronavirus crisis.
Thank you! We love you! protesters shouted, stopping to take selfies with the doctors and nurses.
Now the protestors who are calling out these issues, that are putting their bodies on the line, risking getting arrested, risking police violence themselves, they are the heroes now, said Idowu.
So it feels appropriate for us to be backing them up and to be cheering them the same way they cheered us when we were battling COVID.