Black Lives Matter is more than a slogan. It is an international human rights movement. Over the past several weeks since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the U.S. has experienced demonstrations in all 50 states unlike anything seen since 1968.

We’ve all seen far too many killings of African Americans whether from the hands of vigilantes, hate groups, or even from the police for seemingly minor offenses. When jogging through your neighborhood, driving with a broken tail light, or playing with a toy gun can get you killed, we as a country have a problem. It’s a problem many of us were happy to write off to bad luck or a bad apple. Taking the 30,000-foot view, it’s a systemic problem we all need to think hard about and deal with.

Black Eyecare Perspective asked eleven optometrists to speak on their experiences and put together one of the most powerful videos I have ever seen about being black in America in 2020. I know several of these doctors and hope to meet the rest of them when we are all again able to meet safely at conferences once again. Please watch this video and let’s see how we can be a better eyecare community.