We would like to thank Drs Washington and Rodríguez for their interest in our brief report, and for their thoughtful and inspirational letter to the editor. We agree that racism affects every level of medical education, which makes it imperative to combat racism in multiple ways. We appreciate that Drs Washington and Rodríguez highlight our toolkit1 and the importance of having resources available to aid educators in feeling equipped to address the multiple facets of racism that impact their setting and their patient care.
In their letter, Drs Washington and Rodríguez call for the field of family medicine to continue its legacy of being pioneers in promoting diversity and inclusion, and to hold stakeholders and decision makers accountable for change. Further, they humbly acknowledge that “we, as medical professionals, have allowed racism to continue to have an influence in virtually every aspect of a medical career,”2 and that it is we who have the responsibility to not only hold leadership accountable for change, but also to be the leadership in that change. Each of us can take a step toward change and incite change in others. These changes may require guidance from those of us who study and teach about these principles, and we can embrace that goal by continuing to engage in vigorous, evidence-based scholarship on this topic.
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
—James Baldwin
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