It’s a simple example of the racism so deeply entrenched in nursing: racist white nurses at every level – staff, charge, management, supervisory, CNO – relentlessly harassing, abusing, assaulting, and brutalizing a Black nurse to the point of causing termination and false charges of felony manslaughter for the death of a patient known to have died from natural causes.
As a result, DonQuenick has been homeless and unemployed since 2019.
That’s it.
That’s what happened.
DonQuenick is not on trial.
The charges against her were dismissed in 2021 when the Colorado Attorney General so moved, “in the interest of justice.”
The Medical Center of Aurora is on trial.
Named individuals there are on trial.
Nursing is on trial.
Specifically the 80% of nurses who are cishet-abled white women and dominate nursing and the organizations that represent them.
What happened to DonQuenick undermines the empty cliche, “most trusted profession.”
The “leaders” and orgs and others making the most noise about their newfound interest in “DEI” – turned their backs.
The same people who now expect hugs because they wrote a paper, shed some tears, and said “sorry” – turned their backs.
They’re not going to do anything because they’re guilty and they know it.
Some are likely to feel shame, some will always be defiant.
Few will admit wrongdoing or complicity.
Fewer still will accept the consequences.
Most just want to “move forward.”
Whatever good comes from this will be the result of DonQuenick’s courage and guidance from the Lord, supported here by her colleagues and friends.
The goal is to raise $20,000 this month for the legal costs associated with depositions, expert witnesses, and DonQuenick’s travel between the location where she’s been provided a place to stay and the 10th District Federal Court in Denver.
The longer-term one is to change nursing.
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