"I can't breathe" were George Floyd's last words. Doctors writing in the New England Journal of Medicine are using those same words as a refrain to lay out how systemic racism has negatively impacted the health of African Americans and how this is the moment to change it.

Black doctors are now calling on health-care systems to take the lead advocating against police brutality, to diversify their work forces to better reflect their patient population, and to incorporate addressing racial health disparities as part of clinicians’ training.