The cruel murder of George Floyd, the many killings of Black Americans that preceded it, and the tremendous suffering of persons of color during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic dramatize the systemic racism that affects not only our justice system but our health care system as well. The Commonwealth Fund is committed to an antiracist agenda to counter this shameful 400-year legacy. Our focus will be health care — our area of expertise.

As a first step, we will make a significant commitment to understanding and addressing the factors that cause African Americans, who constitute 13 percent of our population, to suffer more than half of COVID-19 cases and nearly 60 percent of deaths nationwide, and Latinos, who constitute 18 percent of the population, to account for nearly 30 percent of new cases. We are also pursuing with increased determination our own internal agenda of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

We join the many organizations that have expressed outrage over institutionalized racism and its consequences in the United States.

This is not the country that we should leave to our children and grandchildren.

It is time to stand up and stand together against racism and for equality in health care in America.