‘George Floyd could have been me’: U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams backs protesters and says he and other black people ‘saw themselves with that knee on their necks’
- Jerome Adams, 45, said he too could have been killed like George Floyd, 46
- Surgeon General Adams, picked by Trump to be ‘the nation’s doctor’, said many black people felt the same way
- He understood why people were protesting but urged wearing of face masks
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
The United States’s top doctor has said that he too could have been killed like George Floyd, as he reflected on how he and other black people have been racially profiled and detained by police.
Surgeon General Jerome Adams said he sympathized with those protesting against police brutality in the wake of Floyd’s death, but also urged them to wear face masks to protect themselves from coronavirus.
Adams, 45, from New Jersey, said that he identified with 46-year-old Floyd, who was killed by police on May 25 in Minneapolis.
‘That could be me, pulled over for speeding five miles over the speed limit,’ said Adams. That could be me with a busted tail light.
‘That could be me who is just seen as a black man and not as the surgeon general of the United States — especially if I’m not wearing a uniform, but I’m casually dressed in my hoodie and tennis shoes and athletic apparel — and that could be me on the side of a road with a knee in my neck.’
Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general, said on Thursday that George Floyd ‘could be me’
Adams, a former professor of anesthesiology, became Indiana’s state health commissioner before being selected by Donald Trump for the surgeon general role.
He took up the office in September 2017.
The father of three said he was not the only one who saw himself in Floyd.
‘I think really it’s why you have so many people angry and frustrated, because they saw that. They saw that,’ he told Politico’s Pulse Check podcast, which aired on Thursday.
‘They didn’t see George Floyd alone. They saw themselves. They saw their faces there with that knee on their necks.’
Adams begun the job in Sept 2017, having previously served as Indiana’s health commissioner
The father of three, pictured with his wife Lacey, said many others shared his views
Adams said he understands ‘the anger, the frustration, the fear’ that is driving many Americans to go out and protest even during the coronavirus pandemic, but said the virus is still a health threat and those going outside should keep wearing masks.
His comments echo those made by his White House colleague Dr Deborah Birx, the coordinator for the coronavirus task force.
She said she was alarmed at the sight of protesters huddled together without masks.
‘It’s devastatingly worrisome to me personally, because if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfather who has a co-morbid condition, and they have a serious or unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of our lives,’ she said.
‘We need to protect each other at the same time we’re voicing our discontent.’
Adams addresses a White House coronavirus briefing on April 10, showing his inhaler
On Sunday the House majority whip, James Clyburn, also commented on the personal threat systemic racism in the police poses to him and other black Americans.
Clyburn said he did not grow up in fear of law enforcement, but now fears officers.
He referenced the killing of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta on Friday – a black man found sleeping in his car, who was killed by a white police officer after running away and turning to point a stolen taser at him.
‘This did not call for lethal force and I don’t know what’s in the culture that would make this guy do that,’ said Clyburn.
He told CNN: ‘It’s got to be the culture, it’s got to be the system.’