I haven’t even been able to form coherent thoughts about all my emotions over the last week. So. Many. Feelings. So. Much. Destruction.
But I have always been acutely aware of white privilege and especially institutionalized racism. My 13 years in nursing have been a constant battle to teach the baby doctors that the very basis of their education is both racist and sexist and that they are going to need to be conscious every day to make sure they don’t fall into a comfortable practice of relying on that privilege to make decisions for those in their care.
Plus, I’ve lived in the cities & the metro areas. I’ve watched this police violence going on so long, I wonder how it’s possible that it can still happen— that it is not obvious to everyone that it is happening. I witness the rage of Americans targeted because of skin color. I witness the horrible assumptions people make about other people. And it breaks my heart. And some days, I am filled with rage too.
As a nurse, it is my job to treat everyone. Full stop. No matter race nor gender nor politics nor any other imaginable category. And honestly, my most basic core value is simply to accept other humans exactly as they are. Everyone has a choice to be who they want. The only time you & I will have a problem is if you tell me I can’t be something— for instance, my mother believes that I cannot be a good person because I do not believe in her religion. But that’s another story for another post…
My point is: I treat everyone equally as a nurse. Police should do the same.
Read what nurses in Minneapolis are doing & feeling right now in response to the George Floyd shooting here:
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/06/9849136/nurse-black-lives-matter-protest-response