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The faces of the first 10 doctors to die from Covid-19 belonged to men from black and minority ethnic communities. It's hard to describe the sense of anxiety I felt as I looked at those men - some of whom were of similar ages and backgrounds to my dad; knowing that my own father - a doctor too - is also currently on the frontline. And in the middle of this global pandemic, we've seen unprecedented scenes following footage showing a police officer kneeling on George Floyd's neck for up to 8 minutes, killing him. And the world responded with a resounding cry that Black Lives Matter. News of Mr Floyd's death as well as the government's report published this week which showed BAME people are disproportionately dying from Covid, show us how, as writer Ben Okri said on this programme on Wednesday, the black community is experiencing "multiple burdens of injustice". The outcry about the racism faced by black people over the past week has been the likes of which I've not seen in my lifetime. But now we've established that Black Lives Matter - whether in Covid-19 wards or on the streets of Minneapolis, I'm more concerned with what comes next. Yesterday, a friend told me she was racially profiled in a branch of a well-known retailer. A security guard followed her around and subtly confirmed whether she had in fact paid for her items. When she looked at the retailer's social media page, she was surprised to see the words Black Lives Matter, words of solidarity with the oppressed. Words are clearly not enough. I believe those who seek change must move from words to deeds; switch from passivity to action. I've heard a lot of people saying sorry recently: sorry for unconscious bias, sorry for discrimination, sorry for slavery. To be sorry is at least a recognition of the part we might have played. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, the scriptures say. Tempers flare - as we have seen in recent weeks - when people refuse to take ownership of their wrongdoing and apologise. What must follow the apology, is change. The Bible talks about repentance followed by a Greek word metanoia - meaning transformative change that comes from turning away from something: a kind of reformation. Images of police officers kneeling in repentance in America make me hopeful that change may be possible; it takes will and effort to take such deliberate actions. Repentance is a 'doing' word; as are the verbs familiar to Christians, found in the book of Micah: act justly, love mercy and walk humbly. Let's hope these symbolic images are more than just gestures and are instead the first steps towards lasting change.
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