"Our responsibility as a nursing community"
LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 1, 2020) -- Below is a statement from University of Kentucky College of Nursing Dean Janie Heath about recent acts of racial injustice.
"Throughout the weekend, I heard from several people in our College of Nursing community who are deeply hurt and grieving from the recent acts of racial injustice and social unrest throughout the country. These events come on top of the devastation COVID-19 is taking on this country, including the disproportionate burden and loss of lives in black communities due to the virus.
The combination of these crises is taking a toll on black lives. But there is a striking difference between the two: COVID-19 does not discriminate and these brutal acts are deliberate and filled with hate and racism.
From Ahmaud Arbery’s shooting death in Georgia to Breonna Taylor’s “no-knock arrest” death in Louisville to George Floyd’s suffocation death in Minneapolis, the list of innocent and valuable lives lost continues to be disturbing and endless.
As a higher education nursing institution, our mission and responsibility are to advocate and optimize the health and wellness of all, and we offer our voice to others in amplifying and denouncing prejudiced violence. When injustice happens to one, it is an injustice to all.
We are unified in our support for those that are hurting and in calling out these acts as inhuman and unjust. We see and hear your exhaustion and frustration with the injustice. Your pain is our pain; your grief is our grief; your outrage is our outrage.
As a nursing community, we honor and acknowledge the sanctity of every life and will stand together to help build a better future of equality, unity, and respect."
