Diversity & Inclusion

Department Statement on Anti-Racism

We are dedicated to dismantling systemic racism and rebuilding an anti-racist system. It is on us to create space for reparation, healing, and trust. We commit to examine how we, as individuals and as an institution, perpetuate racism within our healthcare community. We are devoted to working with intention to create a safe, anti-racist department that prioritizes equity and justice for all.

This is long overdue. George Floyd’s brutal and senseless murder was one of countless Black lives lost due to searing injustice. As a nation, we need to collectively confront centuries of systemic racism, oppressive healthcare practices, and their consequences. ​Black Lives Matter.

As healthcare providers in a setting where Black women are three to four more times more likely to experience maternal death, ​we are not ensuring that Black Lives Matter.

In a global COVID-19 pandemic that is exposing and amplifying glaring disparities in health and deaths among Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), ​we acknowledge that racism is a public health crisis.

We recognize that our department is located on land stolen from the Dakota people after the largest mass execution in American history.

We join our professional organizations in recognizing the injustices inextricably linked to the advancement of our specialty. Obstetrics and Gynecology and Nurse-Midwifery were founded on a legacy of racism and white supremacy. We recognize the systematic eradication of Black midwives, surgical experimentation of enslaved Black women and coerced sterilization of oppressed Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). We recognize Saartjie Baartman, Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy, Henrietta and countless women whose bodies were abused at the hands of white supremacists. They were the Mothers of Modern Gynecology.

We will confront our history and our continued role in perpetuating trauma and harm to BIPOC communities. We humbly recognize these words are not enough and that transformative action to affect actual change for our community is the only way forward. 

The commitment of our department has always been transforming women’s health through our research, education, and our patient care for all we are privileged to serve. We recognize that to truly serve our patients our path forward must be focused on achieving an equitable and welcoming care environment, supporting scholarship and education focused on inclusivity and anti-racist practices, and committing to the recruitment, retainment, and support of a diverse community of healthcare professionals.