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 NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
3 minutes ago, Daisy4RN said:
Again, Trump isn't is the WH nor controlling policies.
SPLC is itself a hate/liberal group. Difference between (true) white supremacists and BLM/antifa is that the (true) white supremacists are being held accountable for their actions (as they should).
Do you really think that BLM is helping everyday American black people?
Trump thank God is not controlling the federal government but he is pulling the strings of some pretty powerful political figures as well as some hate groups. Are you denying that relationship?
Isn't it clever how you want to pivot this conversation to criticize the black organization when it is white supremacy that is a violent threat to our communities? Why is that?
Did BLM kill George Floyd or did a racist murder him in the street?
7 minutes ago, Workitinurfava said:
Typical response.
You can count on your racist baloney getting recognized for what it is.
Funny how you think your comment wasn't related to race relations in this country. Veiled adequately I guess....
God does love me.
Racism is a pervasive problem in this country. It's so pervasive that millions of wht Americans don't even really understand what racism is or how it affects daily life for nonwhts. We see evidence of that wht ignorance of systemic racism here in the AN threads. We see it in the casual language usage of whts when discussing the black experience with racism. Maybe you can't see that...
You need help. You have a boulder on your shoulder. Let me tell you something, every white person I know- and I know a lot of them- does not give a crap what color you are. No one cares about that anymore. It is how you act that matters. You are so hostile it is frightening. Get over it. Move on. Life is too short to keep stewing in your paranoia. Advance yourself and find meaning beyond beating this racism drum. I am sick of it. It died in the 60s. Let it go.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
17 minutes ago, nursemarion said:
You need help. You have a boulder on your shoulder. Let me tell you something, every white person I know- and I know a lot of them- does not give a crap what color you are. No one cares about that anymore. It is how you act that matters. You are so hostile it is frightening. Get over it. Move on. Life is too short to keep stewing in your paranoia. Advance yourself and find meaning beyond beating this racism drum. I am sick of it. It died in the 60s. Let it go.
Guess what...if you don't think we have a problem with racism in this country then your opinion isn't worth much anyway...
Let me tell you something...your personal white person anecdote is not the same as evidence. What is frightening is how bold racists of the Trump era have become. What you dismiss as paranoia is daily harassment for lots of non-white citizens of this country.
We're more sick of the racism and the apologists than you are of us
Isn't it clever how you want to pivot this conversation to criticize the black organization when it is white supremacy that is a violent threat to our communities? Why is that?
White supremacy is not infiltrating our schools and influencing our children like BLM and the entirety of white fragility/white privilege is which only serves to further divide us as a nation. White supremacists (as in the organization) is a fringe that gets zero support (nor should it), but BLM and activists are treated as the norm and perfectly acceptable when they should not be (and of course I mean the BLM organization).
24 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:
Did BLM kill George Floyd or did a racist murder him in the street?
Well, you did see justice play out here didn't you, (although there is no evidence he was a racist vs just an a-hole).
Where is the justice for all the victims of all the rioting/looting?
Good thing the politicians know how to protect themselves with armed guards and razor wire but what about all the cities that literally burned to the ground and the lives that were lost because of BLM/antifa/activists rioting.
Guess what...if you don't think we have a problem with racism in this country then your opinion isn't worth much anyway...
Let me tell you something...your personal white person anecdote is not the same as evidence. What is frightening is how bold racists of the Trump era have become. What you dismiss as paranoia is daily harassment for lots of non-white citizens of this country.
We're more sick of the racism and the apologists than you are of us
You are determined to make people racist. YOU are causing it by insisting that everyone is racist and they are not! It is a small minority- at least in the white population. Blacks seem a whole lot more racist than whites, with all their special organizations and finger pointing and rioting. All this hostility serves to do is make people dislike you. Just be a nurse! What are you trying to achieve here? Why so much hate? If you come at the world with hate, the world will hate you back.
What is frightening is how bold racists of the Trump era have become.
We're more sick of the racism and the apologists than you are of us
The God's honest truth. Thank you toomuch for keeping it real and continuing to call it out. I just can't believe some of the stuff I am reading here. It's heartbreaking and horrific and haunting.
This topic seems to be as polarizing as any topic gets with only two extreme stances to choose from.
I think what moves us forward is recognizing the truth lies somewhere in between.
There's no arguing that George Floyd was killed intentionally and with no just cause. It's certainly not every cop, but there's clearly a problem with bad cops who use different judgement when it comes to people of color, as well as the mentally ill, poor, etc.
But where that valid argument loses integrity is when people claim every incidence where someone of color is on the receiving end of lethal force that it's because of racist cops. As an example, lethal force was used appropriately in the recent case of Ma'Khia Bryant, she was actively stabbing people and showed no signs of stopping when confronted by officers threatening lethal force, the next appropriate step is lethal force. The shooting of Jacob Blake was also justified, officers had already attempted to stop him stealing a van with three kids in it (his own) and I don't there's a good argument that when all other measures failed lethal force was necessary to prevent him from entering the vehicle.
And I don't disagree that black communities do themselves a disservice by damaging their own communities to show their frustration and that BLM (the organization) is deserving of a long list of criticisms. But it's also clearly not true that racism no longer exists or that it's a fairly minor problem. It presents itself differently than it has in the past, but I don't think the overall level of racism has really changed all that much in recent decades. We just had a President who was openly endorsed by various white supremacist organizations and he didn't have much of a problem with that, so clearly we haven't gone as far people are claiming.
1 hour ago, Daisy4RN said:
It is the Democrat policies that are the problem in the inner cities that are causing the poverty and crime.
What policies are those?
This argument seems like saying it's hospitals that cause illness and disease, I mean hospitals are full of sick people after all.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
43 minutes ago, Daisy4RN said:
White supremacy is not infiltrating our schools and influencing our children like BLM and the entirety of white fragility/white privilege is which only serves to further divide us as a nation. White supremacists (as in the organization) is a fringe that gets zero support (nor should it), but BLM and activists are treated as the norm and perfectly acceptable when they should not be (and of course I mean the BLM organization).
Well, you did see justice play out here didn't you, (although there is no evidence he was a racist vs just an a-hole).
Where is the justice for all the victims of all the rioting/looting?
Good thing the politicians know how to protect themselves with armed guards and razor wire but what about all the cities that literally burned to the ground and the lives that were lost because of BLM/antifa/activists rioting.
Where is the evidence that white supremacy is not "infiltrating" our schools, military, or police? There is quite a bit of evidence that white supremacists work and live in all aspects of our society. It's a pervasive problem. But don't take my word for it.
Did you see justice play out? Didn't you say that Chauvin was a scapegoat? Now you're calling him an a**hole while assuring me that this particular murderous a**hole isn't a racist a**hole because there was some other unspoken motivation for him to force the man into submission on the street and then slowly asphyxiate him while intermittently glaring at the horrified (and mostly black) witnesses. Then he said that he was afraid of those witnesses...since not a one of them were threatening that murderer he could only expect us to believe that he was afraid because some of the witnesses were black. That would have to be the assumption, that anyone murdering a black man in plain view should definitely be afraid of the black witnesses.
When you conflate protests against police violence with the violent insurrection at the capitol it makes it seem as if you don't understand the significance of what happened on 010621. It makes it seem as if you are trying to minimize the significance of that insurrection and the threat that it represents to our republic. It makes you seem like someone who believes the lie that was the premise for that attempt to overthrow our last election.
The God's honest truth. Thank you toomuch for keeping it real and continuing to call it out. I just can't believe some of the stuff I am reading here. It's heartbreaking and horrific and haunting.
Yes! It is! And these are supposed to be professional people! Just wow.
You are determined to make people racist. YOU are causing it by insisting that everyone is racist and they are not! It is a small minority- at least in the white population.
Can you more specifically define "small minority"?
6 minutes ago, nursemarion said:
Blacks seem a whole lot more racist than whites, with all their special organizations and finger pointing and rioting. All this hostility serves to do is make people dislike you. Just be a nurse! What are you trying to achieve here? Why so much hate? If you come at the world with hate, the world will hate you back.
How is the existence of "special organizations" racist? What "finger pointing" are you referring to?
toomuchbaloney
16,095 Posts
Trump thank God is not controlling the federal government but he is pulling the strings of some pretty powerful political figures as well as some hate groups. Are you denying that relationship?
Isn't it clever how you want to pivot this conversation to criticize the black organization when it is white supremacy that is a violent threat to our communities? Why is that?
Did BLM kill George Floyd or did a racist murder him in the street?
You can count on your racist baloney getting recognized for what it is.