| Washington, DC — Long simmering discrimination against Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) that has increased during the pandemic in acts of violence, widespread use of racial and ethnic slurs, and disproportionate illness and mortality from COVID-19 among the AAPI communities demands condemnation and corrective action. This violence, a public health issue, is unacceptable, recently taking the lives of eight individuals at their workplace, including seven women. Six people were of Asian descent while two were White.
Not for the first time, as nurse educators and leaders in the frontline health care response to the pandemic, the National League for Nursing, along with colleagues across the health professions, strongly condemns all violence, bigotry and racism and calls for visible, concrete steps to address health inequities historically and currently affecting communities of color and ethnic minority differences. These inequities have been allowed to persist for far too long.
The National League for Nursing has continually advocated for the preparation of a nursing workforce schooled in culturally aware and patient-centered care that respects the worth and dignity of all human beings and celebrates difference and diversity in all its forms. Led by our core values of caring, integrity, diversity/inclusion, and excellence, the League is dedicated to advancing the health of the nation and the global community.
Such values and our mission are incompatible with hatred and injury, both verbal and physical. Rather, they envision a society guided by principles of social and economic justice that must be enshrined in policy and practice for our future generations, for the sustainable benefit of every American, regardless of race, color, creed, ability, gender or sexual identification.
Without any hesitation, the National League for Nursing stands solidly with the people of Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander ethnicity against the increasing racism, xenophobia, misogyny and violence to which they have been subjected.
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