To our readers, social media contributors, and the entire Doctors of Gaming community,
I want to take a moment (an admittedly late one) to affirm our group’s dedication to the Black Lives Matter movement. Our black fellow gamers, medical professionals, and community members need our help, and we are here to do what we can to turn the tide of systemic oppression.
This blog has in recent days focused on gaming news, reviews, and editorials. Many may not know or remember, however, that the soul of this organization was founded on principles of injustice. In our case, it was physician wellness and how administration, meded culture, and abusive practices in our field have had a heavy hand in contributing to the scourge of physician suicide. We thought, what better way to give the middle finger to the ‘man’ behind all of this then to come together unapologetically as gamers, a categorization that almost never has prestige or acclaim attached to it.
Today we have a more urgent matter to address. The continual subjugation and disregard for the worth of black lives is a modern atrocity that must end. Fellow white people must overcome their own insecurities, defensiveness, and deeply socialized points of view to finally hear what our black community members have been saying all along – that black lives are not disposable, are not lesser, and should be celebrated. For anyone wishing to learn about how us white people react to discussions like these, I would recommend the book White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo.
Making black lives matter, much like abolishing physician abuse and suicide, is not going to happen over night. It is going to take a lot of effort, time, and commitment. All I can say right now is that DoG as an organization will run that marathon with people of color.
It’s extremely cliche to end with this, but I think the words are truer than ever: love wins.
