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.
2 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:
Maybe it is because that person has been unjustly accused of being a racist so is over compensating.
What is your address, I will be right over, maybe you have some stuff I want.
Come on over. PM me for the address. I live north of Fairbanks, Alaska and I have dogs and firearms. My neighbors don't take kindly to tweakers or thieves messing around in this gold mining community and the Alaska State Troopers won't be around to protect you.
Seriously, if a business owner wants to shoot and kill someone for looting their business that's their choice. They'll have to deal with the consequences. The police should not be killing people for property damage or loss...perhaps that wasn't clear before.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
53 minutes ago, Daisy4RN said:
Obviously police are not supposed to bypass courts.
And, obviously people should not be destroying cities, innocent people's shops, looting stores and taking their very lives.
So, as kooky pointed out, people have a right (or at least used to here in the US) to protect their lives and livelihoods. Plus, if someone is coming after "stuff" who knows where they will stop.
The problem is the police are not stopping the rioters and looters, or at least not in a timely manner. And, do you (general you) really think that they (gov) couldn't stop the riots and looting if they wanted to, and before millions of dollars of damage has been done, and people have lost their lives.
Nobody thinks cops should be running around carte blanche shooting people. But by the same token people should not be setting up autonomous zones, tearing down statues, burning cities, and looting.
And until we (general we) can have honest and open conversations (without accusations flying around) race issues will only get worse.
Our country does have a racist hx, has worked very hard to work through and overcome that, race relations were better but now have taken a turn for the worse again. IMO, the gov, media and schools are not helping.
Again, police should not be shooting looters. That is a separate issue from business owners shooting someone in defense of their own property and even that can carry some hefty consequences dependent upon the circumstances.
Until we can have discussions where racist tropes and thinking are accurately called out and acknowledged there will never honesty or openness in the conversation. The evidence is abundant that this country has not, in fact, "worked through" or "overcome" our racist history and attitudes.
Yes, when schools teach white washed history that ignores the racist trauma and suggests that slaves were happy and there was no native genocide, it's not helping.
I look at things quite realistically. I certainly don’t think all police officers are bad. I have dozens of police officers in my life. Several of them family members and many are close friends and people I used to work with prior to nursing. They’re good people.
Let’s assume that your 20% figure is accurate and that 20% of officers are racist or poorly suited for the job in some other way. That would be a significant part of the police force and suggests a serious problem. Contemplate for one moment the power a police officer has that other citizens don’t have. And ask yourself if you think it would be acceptable that one in five are as bad or worse than the criminals they are supposed to stop and protect you from.
Of course the 80% of good officers have to answer for the 20% bad ones. If they don’t, they’re no better than them.
What would you, a nurse, do if you watched another nurse draw up a one gallon sized syringe (yep, big!) with potassium chloride and make a beeline to the closest patient sleeping in their hospital bed? Stop him/her or simply shrug your shoulders since you can’t answer for them or change them, and simply allow them to carry out the deed?
Am I understanding you correctly? Is your theory that workitnurfava’s reason for typing blk instead of black is a sign of racial sensitivity and not wishing to offend black posters? Don’t you think he’d offer up that explanation, instead of ignoring the question, since he’s been asked several times why he types white properly but won’t write black? English isn’t my first language so perhaps my reading comprehension isn’t up to snuff, but I never took his contracted spelling as a sign of respect. It’s kind of hard to given the content of his posts. He is of course welcome to explain his motivation.
My response failed to save so I am trying again. Please forgive me.
OK- part I. Yes, I have seen enough and studied enough and lived enough to believe that 20% of anything causes 80% of the problems. Conversely, 80% of anything, including people, cause little to no problems. It is a normal curve of sorts, a continuum even, if you choose to see it that way. The extremes of the distribution being upper and lower standard deviations of anything. People fall somewhere, for the most part, in the middle. They get along fine, they cause no problems, they follow the rules and are politically correct. The extremists polarize on either end. This is life.
I believe, having worked many years, 40 total in health care as I started out as an aide in a hospital back when we wore white polyester and steam cleaned bedpans, that 20% of nurses also cause the problems. They range from lazy to inept, and even deviant. Two in ten. I would say that is about right for every workplace I have ever been in. Those nurses who forget to enter orders, miss things, forget to pass on vital information, or cause drama in other ways. You roll your eyes when you see they are on duty.
Part II. I am simply hypothesizing about the blk abbreviation. I saw it on a product label today BLK water, and I thought about the significance of the letters omission. The poster may not know why he or she even started it, where it came from in the beginning. But now the poster is committed. And no one must reveal why they do anything. It is a private abbreviation for the poster- to them alone is it significant, or maybe not. I simply hypothesized because I kind of like it. It pleases me to see it in text. It is soft.
Maybe it is because that person has been unjustly accused of being a racist so is over compensating.
Accused by who? A Latino, black, or Asian just want to sit and have their coffee. We (minorities) are no longer responsible for how white masters feel about themselves or have to make them feel better.
Aim to change your actions or systematic racism, we'll focus on how we process are own feelings towards you.
Just ask politely and move on. No one wants to hear a stranger ramble on about their white guilt.
I posted a link in a previous post about statistics of officer shootings in various countries around the globe. I asked why you, anyone is free to answer, think that it’s up to 30 times more common in the U.S. than in most European countries? It’s not like we don’t have crime, criminals, drug use and mental health issues in our populations. We have lots of it. So does anyone have a theory?
I’ll start with one reason. Training. In many/most? European countries it takes between two and three years to train to become a patrol officer.
My thoughts
2nd Amendment
"The right to keep and bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution since 1791,[208] and most state constitutions also guarantee this right".
According to criminal justice and policing experts, police have good reason to be fearful. The US has a tremendous amount of civilian-owned guns — far more than any other country in the world. Based on recent estimates, there are more firearms in America than there are people. That presents a constant potential threat to police.
“Police officers in the United States in reality need to be conscious of and are trained to be conscious of the fact that literally every single person they come in contact with may be carrying a concealed firearm,” David Kennedy, a criminologist at John Jay College, told me. “That’s true for a 911 call. It’s true for a barking dog call. It’s true for a domestic violence incident. It’s true for a traffic stop. It’s true for everything".
Police going to work everyday must know that behind all these incidents lies what seems to be a constant fear that a gun may be present.
Facing the constant fear of been shot everyday must be traumatic.
"Initial reactions to trauma can include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect. Indicators of more severe responses include continuous distress without periods of relative calm or rest, severe dissociation symptoms".https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207191/
This trauma related to knowing there may be a gun present must increase the likelihood of police shootings.
"The right to keep and bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution since 1791,[208] and most state constitutions also guarantee this right".
According to criminal justice and policing experts, police have good reason to be fearful. The US has a tremendous amount of civilian-owned guns — far more than any other country in the world. Based on recent estimates, there are more firearms in America than there are people. That presents a constant potential threat to police.
“Police officers in the United States in reality need to be conscious of and are trained to be conscious of the fact that literally every single person they come in contact with may be carrying a concealed firearm,” David Kennedy, a criminologist at John Jay College, told me. “That’s true for a 911 call. It’s true for a barking dog call. It’s true for a domestic violence incident. It’s true for a traffic stop. It’s true for everything".
Police going to work everyday must know that behind all these incidents lies what seems to be a constant fear that a gun may be present.
Facing the constant fear of been shot everyday must create be traumatic.
"Initial reactions to trauma can include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect. Indicators of more severe responses include continuous distress without periods of relative calm or rest, severe dissociation symptoms".https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207191/
This trauma related to knowing there may be a gun present must increase the likelihood of police shootings.
But again, police are no fools. They know - here comes that 80% again- that 80% of gun owners are law-abiding citizens who keep them for self protection against the same bad guys that the cops have to worry about. Or, perhaps they are hunters. Perhaps both. I am a gun owner. I strongly believe in the right to bear arms. The 20% are the criminals, and the inept, unstable, mentally ill or other variables that might apply and mean they should not own a firearm. Yet many of these are illegal firearms. If you take away legal firearms, the 80% are now potential victims of the 20% who will still get firearms illegally.
Again, there is video of the incident, one from the officer's bodycam and the other from a surveillance camera across the street.
AN doesn't allow for embedding video anymore so you'll have to click the link, but it shows a much different scenario that what you're describing: Ma'Khia Bryant shooting surveillance video
I don't think anyone is disputing that she was being bullied leading up to the incident, and that quite possibly the two girls she attempted to stab had it coming. That doesn't change what an appropriate response is when an officer arrives on a scene and someone is actively trying to stab multiple people right in front of them.
Here are still images from the officer's bodycam, this is after she had already tried to stab another girl and then moved on to the girl in pink:
Again, there are plenty of legitimate examples of police murdering people of color, not to mention the mentally ill, but trying to lump these bad examples in with legitimate examples just fuels claims that the problem is being exaggerated.
What you didn't screenshot was her being chased, pushed on the ground, and picking the knife up. What you also missed was the girl in pink was one of the people she called the police on for abusing her and her teen sister. Does NOT matter what you pick and peck to post to fit your agenda, you're wrong and still trying to validate a teen being shot by a cop fresh out of the car and not having a clue what's going on. You also didn't post the infinite examples of white people doing far worse than this child but somehow managed to not get a scratch. Spare me the fake understanding. The only exaggeration here is you trying to reach to the moon to validate this child's death. My observation of your thinking a few posts back is spot on. Move around and move on.
"The right to keep and bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution since 1791,[208] and most state constitutions also guarantee this right".
According to criminal justice and policing experts, police have good reason to be fearful. The US has a tremendous amount of civilian-owned guns — far more than any other country in the world. Based on recent estimates, there are more firearms in America than there are people. That presents a constant potential threat to police.
“Police officers in the United States in reality need to be conscious of and are trained to be conscious of the fact that literally every single person they come in contact with may be carrying a concealed firearm,” David Kennedy, a criminologist at John Jay College, told me. “That’s true for a 911 call. It’s true for a barking dog call. It’s true for a domestic violence incident. It’s true for a traffic stop. It’s true for everything".
Police going to work everyday must know that behind all these incidents lies what seems to be a constant fear that a gun may be present.
Facing the constant fear of been shot everyday must be traumatic.
"Initial reactions to trauma can include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect. Indicators of more severe responses include continuous distress without periods of relative calm or rest, severe dissociation symptoms".https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207191/
This trauma related to knowing there may be a gun present must increase the likelihood of police shootings.
Yet they only seem to have those fears when encountering unarmed black/brown/Native/Muslim/nonwhite people? How about maybe not run around murdering people with impunity and you wouldn't have to be fearful all the time? You know, do unto others and whatnot. I mean, most of the murderous cops do claim to be religious while not utilizing a single biblical lesson.
Pushing someone to the ground is not deadly force, it doesn’t justify the response of plunging a knife into someone’s face.
Plunging a knife into someone’s face, however, is a situation that justifies a lethal response. Although Ma’khia might not have been the initial aggressor (they have not released who actually called 911, as there was two separate calls and both parties are claiming they were the one requesting assistance), at the moment of the shots fired, she was definitely the aggressor in the situation.
The girl was going to stab someone. If I was the person she was going to stab, I would be glad that regardless of the cops color, that he or she would shoot this girl to save my life. This is justified. If everything the cops intervene in, in the blk community is automatically racism, blk people will lose their argument about racism in the police force. I never said it didn't exist I said it's not all cops and it isn't as bad as it is made out to be. Blk people can do better with self regulation. There are innocent blk people being killed in Chicago. The cops will definitely go where the crime is high. You will see them a lot more, for not wanting any issues, blk people sure give cops more reasons to be in their spaces than other races of people. All criminals can't be handled gently and with fuzzy handcuffs.
The person she was going to stab had been abusing her and her sister for a while. All you're doing is exposing yourself and how you feel about nonwhite people. Yep, I think I'm going to exit this conversation with you. I've avoided it for a few days to cool off and after reading through what's been going on since I left, it's clear I need to just not speak to you about this. I'm sure I'm going to break the TOS on AN because I don't process gaslighting and ignorance too well, especially when it's people being willfully obtuse and inherently racist yet trying to be witty with it. I won't do it.
Pushing someone to the ground is not deadly force, it doesn’t justify the response of plunging a knife into someone’s face.
Plunging a knife into someone’s face, however, is a situation that justifies a lethal response. Although Ma’khia might not have been the initial aggressor (they have not released who actually called 911, as there was two separate calls and both parties are claiming they were the one requesting assistance), at the moment of the shots fired, she was definitely the aggressor in the situation.
She plunged a knife into what face? Answer: she stabbed no one! And now you've remixed it to claim she didn't call the police when she clear as day did, even her sister said it. Y'all miraculously didn't see that video where her sister explains it all while clearly being in crisis. And I won't keep speaking on the white folks who have done far worse and are still alive with nary a mark on them. Also she had been getting abused by those same people, especially the girl in the pink for a while hence why she called the police but go off with the excuses though. ?
The more y'all come with this revisionist nonsense to justify this child being murdered the more I fear being a black/Native patient and for my children as well. I've had nurses who think like some of y'all and didn't know I'm a nurse and I had to get them together because their nursing, or lack of, was detrimental and the outcome would have been death, and I hate having to get upset, especially publicly. If I wasn't a nurse I'd literally be dead right now because of y'all mindset. SMH
toomuchbaloney
16,090 Posts
Come on over. PM me for the address. I live north of Fairbanks, Alaska and I have dogs and firearms. My neighbors don't take kindly to tweakers or thieves messing around in this gold mining community and the Alaska State Troopers won't be around to protect you.
Seriously, if a business owner wants to shoot and kill someone for looting their business that's their choice. They'll have to deal with the consequences. The police should not be killing people for property damage or loss...perhaps that wasn't clear before.