ASHLEY HURST: The hard work that we need to be doing
is stuff we needed to do last year and the year before
and 10 years ago, and it's thanks to the hard work
we'll still be doing 10 years from now because we
are human beings, and we don't get everything right.
KIMBERLY ACQUAVIVA: I spend a long time
talking about race, racism, and privilege
in every class I teach.
Nurses have, as part of their code of ethics, an obligation
to advocate for the elimination of racial injustice and racism.
So I teach students about this, and I talk about privilege.
I talk about the privilege that my white skin conveys
anytime I walk into a room.
ASHLEY HURST: A spotlight has placed on ways
that we discriminate and disadvantage
people in our population.
I find this really invigorating time for us
because we've been given permission
to talk about these things.
It's not outside the curriculum.
This is at the core of the curriculum.
KIMBERLY ACQUAVIVA: I teach about the difference
between privilege and privileged.
Privilege does not mean having an easy life.
Privilege means that people are not judging me
based on the color of my skin, and that is an advantage
that others do not necessarily enjoy in life.
MAUREEN METZGER: It isn't about whether you're kind,
because kindness in and of itself and you being
a good person in your little world
isn't enough to change the system.
You have to recognize that you can be a really good and kind
person, and you can personally feel like you are not
a party to what's going on.
But if we don't step forward and use our powers for good.
Use the powers and the voice that we
do have to amplify the voice of others that don't, we're
not going to change the system.
SARAH CRAIG: If a nurse says stand
in the corner for this entire patient encounter
and don't speak.
That's not a supportive learning environment,
and what do you say in that moment?
Or who do you go to?
Who is your support system that you can reach out to?
We are very intentional about developing tools and skills
to speak up in the moment.
We know that students are in multiple different settings
where they are the guest.
They don't have a lot of power or a voice.
Oftentimes, they're not made to feel that way automatically.
Again, give them tools in their toolbox
to recognize racism, social injustice, and disrespect
and be able to speak up about it or also identify someone
that they feel comfortable talking to about it.
ASHLEY HURST: Particularly for those of us who
are in majority dominant situations,
we can often say, well, that doesn't happen to me,
but then when someone you know and as your colleague and you
work beside says to you, this is what has happened to me,
it brings a reality to this situation that I think really
empowers us who have not had that experience to say,
I need to do more, I need to be more alert,
and I need to be the kind of person
that other people trust to tell them
that the situation that has happened.
And so I think that's the magic that can happen in a classroom
when we trust each other enough to share
these tender and sad, sometimes, very sad experiences,
because it brings home the reality of what can often
feel like something on a newspaper headline
or somebody else's very distant experience.
MAUREEN METZGER: Fortunately, we just
have too numerous to count some of the hate crimes
that happened on grounds.
The bombing of the synagogue in Pittsburgh.
But all of these things have happened.
You have to go into the classroom,
knowing that these things are affecting students,
and they're bringing it into that space.
And so if you haven't laid down that foundation
at the beginning, honestly, I don't know how you do it,
but if you have that foundation, students
don't think this is coming at them from left field.
They expect it.
They expect that you're going to say,
wow, this was a really challenging week or weekend
or whatever, and it's tough.
Let's take a moment to reach out.
Let's check in on each other.
Let's create a safe space for each other.
Let's remind ourselves of what our resources are.
Make sure that this space in this classroom is a safe space.
It's OK to feel uncomfortable and challenged,
it's not OK to feel unsafe.
KIMBERLY ACQUAVIVA: Talk about race and racism
in the classroom is, I think, an integral part of what
we do within nursing, and it's important
if we're going to begin to look at issues of racial inequality
in terms of health outcomes.
We have to look at the underlying
cause, which is racism.
Oftentimes, I will hear students make reference to race
being a social determinant of health, and it is not.
Racism is the social determinant of health.
So if nothing else, I want students
who leave the school of nursing programs
and having had a class with me, I
hope that they will go out into the world understanding
what racism is, what their role in racism is,
and what they can do to begin to confront it,
and ultimately, eliminate it.
To me, it's not an option to not act now.
We all have to act.