Urban League Leaders Call for Reforms in the Wake of Earl Moore, Jr. Tragedy

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS and NEW YORK (January 19, 2023) – National and local Urban League leaders today welcomed the intervention of national civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Bob Hilliard in the case of a Springfield man who died at the hands of negligent paramedics and called for reforms to address racism in the delivery of emergency and medical services.

“Racial bias in emergency response and the health care system is well-documented and persuasive, and Earl Moore Jr.’s senseless death is the tragic result,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said. “The hostility and scorn the paramedics displayed toward a confused patient in obvious crisis would be shocking from a bystander, much less from professionals duty-bound to provide compassion and care.”

Springfield Urban League President and CEO Marcus Johnson called Moore’s death a devastating setback for the community.

“For more than 15 years, the Springfield Urban League has worked to build trust between communities of color and health care institutions, an effort which took on even greater urgency during the COVID pandemic,” Springfield Urban League President and CEO Marcus Johnson said. “The malicious behavior of paramedics Peggy Finley and Peter Cadigan has sabotaged that trust and makes it that much harder for Black Americans to seek and receive the health care they need.”

Implicit racial bias contributes to the false perception of Black men as more threatening than white men of identical size and demeanor, thereby justifying the greater use of force against Black men. At the same time, false beliefs persist among medical providers that Black patients have greater pain tolerance,  and feel less pain than white patients. 

These racist assumptions were clearly on display in the paramedics’ wildly inappropriate mistreatment and restraint of Moore,  Morial and Johnson said. Springfield authorities and community groups must work together to identify and eliminate implicit biases, especially as part of the training and certification process for first responders and medical providers.

Both the National Urban League and the Springfield Urban League stand ready to assist with review of procedures and training.

“We’re determined that the voices of Black people in pain and crisis not only are heard, but believed and respected,” Johnson said.