We have all seen on the news the terrible scene that played out in the streets in Minnesota when George Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old black male, was arrested by the Minnesota Police for attempted forgery at a convenience store. The action was caught on video as George Floyd, handcuffed and pinned to the ground face down by an officer who pressed with his full weight with his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck for more than 8 minutes. We watched and heard George Floyd crying out that he couldn't breathe. We heard him calling for "Mama". We watched as his body went limp with the officer still holding him down. This will be a scene I shall never forget.
As nurses, we see the horrific effects of racism in our hospitals and community every day. We cannot remain silent as yet another black man has died at the hands of police...
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George Floyd's last words were "I can't breathe.” George Floyd died shortly after arriving at the hospital."
Nurses jump into action when they hear someone say "I can't breathe", instead of standing there watching them die. Their goal is to save lives, not kill people
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In the case of George Floyd, Minneapolis Police took no care or life-saving measures. Instead, they left him pinned down to the ground until paramedics arrived. Police ignored the pleas of George Floyd and he died.
Nurses care for all patients, regardless of their gender, race, religion or other status. We expect the same from the police. Unfortunately, nurses continue to see the devastating effects of systematic racism and oppression targeting people of color in our communities. We demand justice for George Floyd and a stop to the unnecessary death of black men at the hands of those who should protect them.
As a nurse, or as a compassionate human, how has this horrific event affected you? We have seen protests (some peaceful and some that have erupted into riots), vandalism, looting, and more. What is going on in your community? What actions can nurses take?
Let us stand together and let our voices be heard. Post your comments below.
Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.
1 hour ago, SunshineANDgiggles said:
I commend you for bravery in talking about a very difficult topic. I believe it is so necessary to take this seriously and look at the racism still happening in our culture today. However, the quotes in the post seem to paint nurses as angels and police officers as the problem. Sure, we take care of patients of all races everyday. But we need to have the courage to look harder at ourselves: am I more likely to stereotype the young black man in the ER? am I more likely to call security on black patients? Maybe the answer is no, but the point is, we need to listen and take the opportunity to grown on a personal level rather than just point at others. I'm not suggesting that you are blaming others or not taking responsibility, I don't know what is in your heart or mind. Just wanted to say that the quotes used in the post made me feel like the nurse's union was avoiding looking at their own prejudices.
I agree with your assessment of the quotes. That's why they were included.... to get input from other nurses. We all need to address our own prejudices before we can address the prejudices of others.
I am reminded of the song I learned many years ago as a child:
Jesus loves the little children All the children of the world Red and yellow Black and white They are precious in His sight Jesus loves the little children Of the world
And...Jesus continues to love the children when they are grown up - red and yellow, black and white...
Unfortunately, I think events like what happened to George Floyd happen more than we know. We only see a fraction of them that happened to get recorded. A simple Google/Youtube search will show hundreds, if not thousands, of videos of police lying to people regarding the law, harassing people, physically and verbally assaulting people, etc. The problem is the police feel they are above the law and control people however they want. That's not the case though. They are beholden to us, not our masters. I sincerely hope changes in policing come about because of this. I don't want to come off as anti-police. There are plenty of good cops. But the officers standing around participated in the death of George Floyd by doing nothing. The cops have to make each other better or the citizens will have to legislate it.
Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.
All four police officers in the killing of George Floyd now will face charges, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Wednesday.
"Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is increasing charges against Derek Chauvin to 2nd degree in George Floyd’s murder and also charging other 3 officers. This is another important step for justice," the Democratic senator tweeted.
2nd degree charges carry proof of intention to affect the death of.
Awaiting the details of charges against the other 3 officers.
Well perhaps we can start with legislators.... "Since 2015, elected leaders have proposed more than a dozen police reform bills, but failed to pass or substantially advance any of them."
The neck restraint is actually allowed in the state of Minnesota, how can this even be possible? State and city legislators have failed for many years at any significant reforms.
Amy klobuchar refused to bring charges against Chauvin in another murder of a man in 2006 when she was county attorney.
Legislators keep saying we need change yet they fail to enact any changes.
I just wish there was more outrage regarding non-black police killings that happen much more than you think (actually the majority). I can think of several egregious episodes over the last few years that barely made the news. Selective outrage in any situation just doesn't sit well with me, and its concerning that it takes something like this for the public to be concerned en masse.
Would you please clarify what you mean by "non-black police killings"? If you're talking about the police killing people of other races--I'm sure that happens too. There are avenues to address violence among BIPOC and in fact there are a lot of coalitions with people of different races (including white allies) to address grave injustices. But what we're talking about here is the targeted killings of black men (and women) in the U.S. in the name of "the law". The numbers of deaths in the black population is disproportionate to actual numbers (same as COVID). It's been happening over and over and over again become so serious that people can no longer stand back and allow this to continue without some larger resolutions about police brutality.
I strongly disagree that this is "selective outrage"-- there is absolute justification for the massive protests nationwide because there have been systematic racist attacks on black people in every aspect of American life for hundreds of years: housing (heard of redlining?), jobs, schools, healthcare (yes! nurses witness and some perpetrate this unfortunately). If you are truly curious about learning more, there are tons of documented stories, studies, books, articles, podcasts, movies and videos which are highlighted on multiple websites and channels.
I believe social media and smartphones have totally flipped the script because now it's possible to record actions live where in the past it was all "he said" vs "she said"--and as we know who is usually believed. There's a power structure in place and it's designed to dehumanize and destroy black lives--just look at the links between prison and poorly funded public schools that mainly serve black students and other groups of color. The US was founded on the ideals that guaranteed freedoms to its people. Tragically, even after the gains of the Civil Rights movement, it has yet to live up to that promise.
All four police officers in the killing of George Floyd now will face charges, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Wednesday.
"Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is increasing charges against Derek Chauvin to 2nd degree in George Floyd’s murder and also charging other 3 officers. This is another important step for justice," the Democratic senator tweeted.
2nd degree charges carry proof of intention to affect the death of.
Awaiting the details of charges against the other 3 officers.
That's an important step because bystanders have a legal and responsibility to step in when they witness a colleague perpetrating such a horrific act. It's unfortunate that there's a culture of silence which allows the "bad apples" on the police force to do this over and over again.
Would you please clarify what you mean by "non-black police killings"? If you're talking about the police killing people of other races--I'm sure that happens too. There are avenues to address violence among BIPOC and in fact there are a lot of coalitions with people of different races (including white allies) to address grave injustices. But what we're talking about here is the targeted killings of black men (and women) in the U.S. in the name of "the law". The numbers of deaths in the black population is disproportionate to actual numbers (same as COVID). It's been happening over and over and over again become so serious that people can no longer stand back and allow this to continue without some larger resolutions about police brutality.
I strongly disagree that this is "selective outrage"-- there is absolute justification for the massive protests nationwide because there have been systematic racist attacks on black people in every aspect of American life for hundreds of years: housing (heard of redlining?), jobs, schools, healthcare (yes! nurses witness and some perpetrate this unfortunately). If you are truly curious about learning more, there are tons of documented stories, studies, books, articles, podcasts, movies and videos which are highlighted on multiple websites and channels.
I believe social media and smartphones have totally flipped the script because now it's possible to record actions live where in the past it was all "he said" vs "she said"--and as we know who is usually believed. There's a power structure in place and it's designed to dehumanize and destroy black lives--just look at the links between prison and poorly funded public schools that mainly serve black students and other groups of color. The US was founded on the ideals that guaranteed freedoms to its people. Tragically, even after the gains of the Civil Rights movement, it has yet to live up to that promise.
1. This is selective. I can think of multiple episodes of police killings of non-black people in the same manner as GF without barely thinking. Not a peep from the national media (Tony Timpa, Thomas Kelly immediately come to mind along with several others in the past few years). Cops kill people justly and unjustly every day but the media only cares about the narrative. Your statement "I am sure that happens too", proves my point. It does happen, and it happens a lot to non-black folks. You brush it off like its nothing. Bandwagon virtue signalling and grandstanding, shows people are only interested when the media and their friendly are blaring the problem 24/7 on social media/news because it generates clicks and hashtags. People are poorly educated on this.
2. Black men are not the majority killed by cops, their increased numbers are due to the fact they commit a disproportionate number of crimes, specifically violent. When 2-3% of the population commits near 50% of the murder, violent robberies and 30% of the rapes, yeah you are going to get more deaths by police. Common sense 101. I mention this because you like to bring up disproportionate figures, well this is a HUGELY disproportionate one along with 70% single parent households leading to even more community/socioeconomic disarray (topic for another day). However, regardless of who commits the crime, unjust killings need to stop.
3. This is a police brutality issue, not a race issue. Stop trying to red herring fallacy the actual problem. Your post is literally trying to bury the real glaring conflict which is police brutality with a litany of other issues that come from different source. Police brutality is an ALL race issue.
Has everyone forgotten who maintains order in this country? How many police officers have been killed by violent criminals— where is the outrage for their lives? Don’t all lives matter? Bashing the police and rioting solves nothing. It’s only causing more lives to be lost and businesses to be destroyed. I don’t support anything that has to do with burning down buildings, blocking people from driving to work, throwing bricks at horses and bashing our police force. The police officers involved have been arrested and will have their trial— continuing this chaos and hurting others accomplishes nothing productive.
Specializes in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.
In response to the OP, I my feelings/thoughts were neutral. What I mean is that there have been many others (of all backgrounds) that have died to "police brutality" throughout the years, but why is this any different. Yes, I do believe there needs to be some sort of change in the use of police tactics/force when dealing with situations like this, but should this be a cause for protesting? Yes, and no and I'll leave it that.
As a nurse, I feel for the patients and the hospitals that are hurt due to those taking time off from work to protest. I have some acquaintances that have done so. It also hurts to see friends and coworkers continue to post violence and hate in the social media particularly specific 5 sec clips of police using force during this protest. It's simple to avoid the law in my eyes. Protest when the curfew is not effect. If it's in effect, you are violating the temporary law and subject to that law by any means, especially if resisting. It doesn't matter if you are peaceful or not.
The sad part about this situation is that in a few weeks time, everyone will have forgotten this moment in time except for those business owners and people that were injured during these, "peaceful" protests. The other sad part is that in all reality and when this situation blows over, a majority of this "BLM" issue will not matter to most people except those that are personally affected until the next ridiculous media blow out.
tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN
83 Articles; 5,923 Posts
I agree with your assessment of the quotes. That's why they were included.... to get input from other nurses. We all need to address our own prejudices before we can address the prejudices of others.
I am reminded of the song I learned many years ago as a child:
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow
Black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children
Of the world
And...Jesus continues to love the children when they are grown up - red and yellow, black and white...