By now, racists should know their bigoted behavior can affect their livelihood. But because even that won’t motivate them to stay away from acting out in hateful ways, we have the story of Dr. Dov Bechhofer, a resident radiologist at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Even though he worked in a borough with an about 56 percent Latino population, Becchofer used the internet to make derogatory comments about people of color. In posts, he supported mass deportation and the killing undocumented immigrants who crossed the border without documentation. He also backed the white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville in August, posting regularly on white nationalist publishing house Counter-Currents’ website, and he made anti-Semitic comments, despite his own Jewish background. After his identity was revealed – he sometimes went by just his first name – Becchofer was suspended from his job. And now protesters are pushing for him to lose his license as well.
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An anonymous Medium post, which has since been removed for violating the site’s terms, provided insight into Becchofer’s online life. The 27-year-old has since apologized. “I am shame of the hurtful, unjustifiable words that I posted online that showed callous disregard toward certain minority groups and am deeply sorry for these transgressions,” he said in a written statement to the Associated Press. “The posts do not reflect how I was raised or how I actually treat others. I will continue to struggle to understand what brought me to write them.”
But an apology isn’t enough, especially to the groups that he degraded. On Monday, protesters – holding signs that read “white supremacy is a cancer” and “racists not welcomed” – headed to Montefiore to demand that his medical license be revoked and that the hospital fire him. Montefiore says it will investigate the matter before taking any action, according to News 12.
But for the protesters, not firing him is irresponsible. “He’s in a position where he can decide who lives or dies,” a demonstrator told News 12.