Dear School of Nursing Community,
Beginning with Gerald Ford in 1976, every president of the United States has celebrated Black History Month in February—but its roots go back more than a century; in 1915, Dr. Carter G. Woodson and several colleagues founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History). The current president of that association, Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney, reminds us that “…promoting, researching, and preserving the African-American experience is just as important today as it was [then].” This year’s theme for Black History Month is “Black Resistance”—the need for which is painfully obvious in our recent social and cultural history. In the political arena, we must all vigorously and conscientiously resist the current trends among elected officials, representative bodies, and misguided educational administrators in too many states to erase the facts about the legacy of slavery, disqualify Black voters, and gerrymandering Black citizens out of their legitimate access to legislative power. Socially, we must support each other after the Memphis Police Department’s release of traumatizing video. As we collectively mourn Tyre Nichols, we are too aware of the fact that brutality at this level is unconscionable.
In February, we must also come together as a profession to acknowledge and reflect on our debt to the Black leaders who have pushed forward for a better future despite the horrific racism, prejudice, and discrimination that continues today. There have been, and are, talented and stalwart resisters who continue to make progress locally and globally towards a more equitable society—and also a more equitable nursing profession. We have our own tragic history; our work of anti-racism is far from over. With that in mind, I thank Dr. Ernest Grant, the immediate past president of the American Nurses Association, for leading the important work of the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing and the subsequent issuance of ANA’s Our Racial Reckoning Statement.
All of us should respond to the call from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History: “This is a call to everyone, inside and outside the academy, to study the history of Black Americans’ responses to establish safe spaces, where Black life can be sustained, fortified, and respected.”
With gratitude for your commitment to equity and anti-oppression,
Ken White
Dean and Professor
School of Nursing