I've been thinking about
what it means to me to be an ally with people of color when fighting racism, and in early April, I had a chance to witness what this really means by the example of Nancy Fugate Woods, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean and Professor at the University of Washington's School of Nursing.
Dr. Woods delivered the keynote address at the 59th annual scholarship luncheon of the Mary Mahoney Professional Nurses' Organization. I am aware of this organization through my work, and until I visited the web site, I thought of it as a club or group for African American nurses, without realizing the impetus for the organization's founding -- racism.
I shouldn't be have been surprised. Many institutions of African American communities were founded because of racism and segregation. To the eyes of some white people, African American sororities, fraternities, churches, schools and other groups may seem like some sort of exclusive club which they are being excluded from. (I am not sure that I've ever thought of them this way, but I know this way of thinking is out there.) If you look at the history of these institutions (you, meaning, fellow white people, as many people of color are all too aware of the history), in many cases, they were founded to meet the needs of fellowship and support in the face of exclusion and hatered. In the case of the Mary Mahoney Professional Nurses' Organization, this group was founded to support African American nurses in Seattle when they were deprived of entry to schools and workplaces, such as the University of Washington, and Harborview Hospital. According to the
MMPNO web site, in 1941, "Negro registered nurses couldn't work at any hospital in Seattle."
That day in April, over 10 African American men and women, and men and women of African descent, were honored with scholarships to pursue their careers in nursing at a time when nursing shortages exist throughout the U.S.
So what does this have to do with Dr. Woods, a white woman?
When she read
Dr. Lois Price Spratlen's book,
African American Registered Nurses in Seattle, she issued an
apology on behalf of the University of Washington.
Apology alone is
nothing*, but Dr. Woods made an important step, and set an example for me and many others.
*There is much that could be said about the University of Washington's attempts to make certain that minority students enter the University and graduate, and the
roadblocks to doing so are numerous. I'm relatively new to the State of Washington, which has much to atone for in its racist doings (as does the U.S. as a whole, as well as my home state of California).
Note: I'm not going to have comments activated for this post as I'm going to be away from my computer for a while, and I don't want to have unmoderated comments showing up on this. I know there may be others who would respectfully disagree with me on this issue, but in case there are people who won't be respectful, I'm not opening up comments right now.
