At the heart of Capitol Hill, amid a gathering of dedicated healthcare leaders, Dr. Katie Boston-Leary took the stage at the 37th annual NBNA Black Nurses Day event on February 6, 2025. With passion and purpose, she delivered a powerful address titled Choosing Temperance, a call to reimagine health equity and confront the ongoing threats to America’s well-being. In a time of growing disparities and urgent healthcare challenges, her words served as both a rallying cry and a blueprint for change. Here’s the full text of her compelling speech.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) remains committed to our principles and is seeking to engage in the most effective manner to drive our advocacy agenda forward. From legislation such as the Black Maternal Health Momnibus, introduced by Rep. Lauren Underwood, to regulatory comments addressing social determinants of health and the importance of care reflective of the communities we serve, ANA remains committed to our principles. We have modified some of our language to be heard better by the majority party in Congress and the Administration. Instead of talking about health equity per se, we are leading by discussing access and outcomes. Those are equitable access and outcomes, which are our target priorities, and we are working to ensure that our key points and priorities receive the attention they deserve on Capitol Hill.
We have been rattled by the current administration’s recent policy changes. Executive orders are coming fast and furious, and DEI is the new bogeyman, scapegoat, and radioactive term in general society, which also impacts healthcare and nursing.
Are we disappointed? Yes. Should we be surprised? Absolutely not.
We see the words and works of diversity, equity, and inclusion being scrubbed from titles, programs, publications, and even YouTube videos. Diversity officers are losing their jobs and positions in the public and private sectors. Many large and notable corporations are quickly abandoning their DEI programs. Funding for programs focused on equity is also being affected, and this has directly impacted some of our nurse colleagues.
I have received numerous calls and emails from colleagues tentatively asking whether I am safe in my role. I appreciate that. And I’m fine. In the struggle, you know who your friends are. These dizzying updates and actions are wearing on people emotionally and physically. According to a recent study by Gallup, stress, worry, anger, and sadness are higher than before the pandemic.
There are so many questions right now. People ask, “What now? Where do we go from here?”
Let me start by saying this is only the beginning, so let’s buckle up. Over the past couple of years, we saw some of this wider anti-DEI mandate manifest on a relatively smaller scale in states like Florida and Texas. We also saw the 2022 Dobbs decision striking down Roe vs Wade, which has impacted the lives of many women around the country seeking reproductive care and freedom. We witnessed the Supreme Court strike down affirmative action in 2023, causing the drop in enrollment of Black students at elite schools, including Harvard, Amherst, and the University of Virginia.
So what do we do now? We charge the storm. You know they say that we should pray for our storms to go away, so we what? We pray our way through it.
We charge the storm by staying true to our values. By standing tall in adversity. Like Bison.
Bison instinctively charge into storms instead of running from them because they know it will help them get through the bad weather faster. Will the Bison approach work for those of us who have been impacted by these recent changes? It remains to be seen, as we are in uncharted territory. Civility and decorum used to be in order even during policy development and disagreements, but that’s now gone.
The Bison charge that I would like to implore us all to employ is temperance. Temperance is a unique and intentional strength. It should not be confused with weakness or undeserved patience and tolerance. Temperance works like the radiator in your car, lowering the “temperature” and keeping it cool while driving up horsepower.
Temperance deals with incivility in ways that confuse your opposition because you refuse to match their negative energy. Temperance during times like this – is tonic for our souls. Temperance also unsettles the opposition because we always look like we have a plan, even when we don’t have it all figured out yet. Merriam-Webster defines temperance as “moderation in action, thought, or feeling.” That moderation also gives us rest and paces our energy while we stay in the fight. There is a quote that reads, “Temperance is reason’s girdle, passion’s bride, the strength of the soul, and the foundation of virtue.”
- Stay informed, engaged, and alert (not hyper-vigilant)
- Talk to people with humility and openness
- Understand that you don’t have to fight every single battle that comes your way
- Keep your loved ones close and let yourselves be loved on
- Believe in the power of community. We’re not martyrs
- Plot and plan your strategies with a growth mindset by understanding risk and reward
- Take care of our physical, emotional, cognitive, and mental health. These aspects of life are armor. No good soldier leaves their armor unattended to and foolishly enters into battle.
So, for those who question our ability to survive and succeed in these challenging times, I respond to that question with one of my own.
Have you met us? We come from a lineage of royalty, tempered perseverance, and cunning creativity.
Censorship and authoritarian surveillance are not new to us. We always found ways around it. So much so, it was well documented that, even with all the laws and Bible-thumping oppression that they expected would weigh our ancestors down, it caused them to rise up so much so that captors and oppressors suffered tremendously from sleep deprivation.
The white folks down south don’t seem to sleep much, nights. They are watching for runaways, and to see if any other slaves come among theirs, or theirs go off among others.” – Former Runaway, Slavery’s Exiles – Sylviane A. Diouf
Oppressors are trying to keep up. Our ancestors flickered lights to signal a gathering. They learned to read or write, even with the help of some white allies, even though it was punishable by death. They created a whole new dialect to communicate coded chatter to plot and plan. They braided hair, con rows that served as maps to get to freedom. They were able to assemble here in Washington in the thousands without the Internet, radio, or social media.
Former Georgia Delegates from the Continental Congress recounted: “The negroes have a wonderful art of communicating intelligence among themselves, it will run several hundred miles in a week or fortnight.”
These are our ancestors. They had it much worse, and yet they found a way. Our Black history, our amazing Black nursing history, tells us not to be weary.
So, if they expect us to back down, fall apart, rend our garments, lose all hope, fail, falter, or live in fear, I would ask again. Have they met us? In other words, do they have ANY idea who they are dealing with? Clearly not. And we are not going to tell them. We are not going to serve notice. We will show ’em. With resolve. And, with temperance.
- Choosing Temperance - February 18, 2025
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