Anti-Black Racism and Nursing Leadership

Leadership in the nursing profession plays a key role in upholding social justice and eradicating anti-Black racism. Recognizing that racism is a leading factor shaping health inequities is vital to strategies developed to ameliorate adverse health processes and outcomes. Taking proactive steps to prepare nurse leaders to develop and implement system improvement strategies that tackle internal and external system processes and structures that propagate structural racism and other forms of discrimination in health care systems must be prioritized. It would be advantageous for nursing leaders to take a humanistic mindset to effectively diversify the nursing workforce especially for those racialized as Black or brown and desire leadership roles. To advance these efforts, the purpose of this paper is threefold. First, the authors elucidate the ways that anti-Black racism interrupts efforts to advance health equity. Second, factors that contribute to a lack of racial diversity in nursing and nursing leadership are illuminated. Finally, astute strategies to counter anti-Black racism are provided along with reflective questions to facilitate the process.