Overdue Reckoning on Racism in Nursing – Register Here!

Meet our Organizing Team
Join our Email Groups
Reckoning with Racism in Nursing conversations
Additional Resources
Zoom-Keeping

Critical discussions of race and racism centering the voices of nurses of color
Hosted by Lucinda Canty, PhD, CNM, FACNM

Taking the 2023 Summer for rest and renewal!

We will not have our monthly “Overdue” zoom gatherings, but we are available to connect! Here are the summer opportunities to saty in touch:

  • Join the email lists.
  • Watch for special events that are in the works – these will be posted here and announced on the email lists.
  • Watch for plans to start up our regular sessions again September.
  • If you have a concern and want to connect now, use this contact form and we will be in touch!

Summer 2023 contact form

“Being antiracist is different for white people than it is for people of color. For white people, being antiracist evolves with their racial identity development. They must acknowledge and understand their privilege, work to change their internalized racism, and interrupt racism when they see it. For people of color, it means recognizing how race and racism have been internalized, and whether it has been applied to other people of color.”

“TALKING ABOUT RACE” – SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

Principles of Reckoning

All of the activities related to “Overdue Reckoning” are guided by our Principles of Reckoning, which take a bold anti-racist stand for nursing. In coming together to talk about race, nurses of color and white nurses share these Principles of Reckoning:

  • We claim the courage to join together through the experience of building our anti-racist capacity in nursing.
  • We cherish the contributions and honor the voices of Black, Indigenous, Latina/o and other Nurses of Color, and yield the floor to those voices throughout our time together.
  • We recognize that we cannot move forward without a deep understanding of Black, Indigenous, Latina/o and other nurses of color experiences with racism. 
  • The insights and recommendations of Black, Indigenous, Latina/o and other nurses of color are vital to ground our thinking, and to guide our actions. 
  • We pledge to listen deeply and with respect to any and all expressions of anger, rage, despair and grief arising from racism.
  • We commit to healing those harmed by racism.
  • We commit to challenging, resisting and ending the voices and actions that sustain white privilege.
  • We seek to nurture authentic anti-racist awareness.
  • We will inspire and nurture action, as we boldly claim an anti-racist identity for nursing.

Background

This initiative was launched in September 2020 to open discussion that focused on coming to terms with racism in nursing – a “reckoning” that acknowledges the reality and begins a process of healing and change. Racism in nursing has persisted far too long, sustained in large part by our collective failure to acknowledge the contributions and experiences of nurses of color. The intention of this project is to bring the voices of Black, Indigenous, Latina/o and other Nurses Of Color to the center, to explore from that center the persistence of racism in nursing, and to inspire/form actions to finally reckon with racism in nursing.