Creating a racial justice plan in a school of nursing: A journey of discovery and learning

While there are many individuals and instances which illustrate the injustices experienced by people of color at the hands of police in the United States, the video which documented the murder of George Floyd by a law enforcement officer graphically illustrated our long and sad history of racial injustices. This and other events in 2020 forced our society to look at racism and systemic injustices that are embedded so deeply within our policies and practices that differentially advantage or disadvantage certain faculty, students and staff within higher education. This paper will describe the infrastructure and processes used to examine and address individual and systemic racism and white supremacy-based practices and policies at a School of Nursing. We describe the initial phases of racial justice work and infrastructure used to engage and support the efforts of committed faculty, staff and students aspiring to achieve racial equity. We share our challenges as well as immediate outcomes with the hope of stimulating thinking and dialogue in other schools around eliminating racial injustices in nursing education programs so the profession can achieve its' vision of preparing a diverse nursing workforce for the future who will work to improve the health of all.