Several blocks from where George Floyd was murdered is Abbott Northwestern Hospital. I came into the world there. I was born premature and couldn’t breathe well. After a week in the ICU and the help of attentive doctors, I could breathe on my own and headed home.

I grew up in a small town an hour’s drive west of Minneapolis. My father commuted to the Honeywell offices in the Phillips neighborhood (~1mi from where George died). I remember visiting my dad at work, going for walks in the gardens (protected by fences and security guards).

I didn’t grow up rich, but I grew up in privilege. And, I’ve been at a loss for words over the recent events.

Racism extends beyond the clear-cut well-documented act of a white police officer using his knee to suffocate a black man.

Just to take our profession, it's not uncommon to be in a meeting with 50 people without a single person of color. In the past 7 years of teaching at Harvard, I can count on a *single* hand the number of black students I’ve had in my classes.

The status quo is not ok. We must do better.