Ms. Frankie Manning shared with us an article published on the web on May 30, 2023. The article is titled “‘A target on my back’: New survey shows racism is a huge problem in nursing.” It gives ample evidence of one of the most pernicious and seemingly intractable and systematic patterns that sustain racism – the subtle and explicit ways that we are all complicit in simply not recognizing and addressing it. Those of us who have been participating in “Overdue Reckoning on Racism in Nursing” over the past 3 years are all too familiar with stories and situations reflecting what is in this article. Time and again – situations in which nobody acknowledges the blatant expressions of racism, denies the reality, and places insurmountable barriers in the way of making change.

This article reminds me of a comment that we heard when we were first announcing “Overdue.” More than one white nurse said to us something along this line: “I hope that this is not just going to be a complaining session.” Our response to this was along this line: “We intend to listen and hear any and all complaints – until we pay attention and start to see the reality, and talk about it we will never see change.”

The “Target on my back” report explains how many nurses of color have simply given up, assuming that it is hopeless for white nurses to ever come to terms with the racism that they participate in and enable. The energy and courage that it takes for nurses of color to even begin to address the issue is overwhelming and destructive. Looking at this reality as vividly portrayed in this article is disheartening, but it is also a wake-up call, and a reminder, that we must do better. We white nurses need to do more than offer cheap apologies – we need to examine the harm that is still happening around us every day, and engage in the deep, authentic and sincere processes of forgiveness, which leads to change.

Nurse ethicist Marsha Fowler has offered insight into the harm of “cheap forgiveness” – and outlines the process of forgiveness as follows:

Forgiveness is a process containing several essential and sequential elements: contrition, confession, penitence, repentance, forgiveness, then reconciliation, meaning, to grieve, to acknowledge, to regret, to turn around, to let go/my sins let go, to be restored. This is the movement that is forgiveness.

https://nursology.net/2023/04/04/cheap-forgiveness/

So on this Juneteenth day of 2023, I am sending a call, an invitation, to my white colleagues to examine what we need to do, and can do, to engage in processes of forgiveness, and processes of building genuine reconciliation and partnership. At the same time I send deep appreciation to my colleagues of color who have joined us in this journey of reckoning with racism in nursing. Lucinda Canty has led us from the beginning, and many more have joined us, for which we are all grateful.

We are all on a journey, with each of us in different places on this journey. As Lucinda says, I will not lie – this is not an easy journey. But I believe that in embarking on our journeys, we are beginning to create real change.