NAZI NICU Nurse Targets the Most Vulnerable Babies

By Juju Angeles

A NICU nurse in Richmond Virginia was recently arrested for allegedly breaking and fracturing the bones of seven NICU babies. All of the babies were African American and because of the incident, Henrico Doctors’ Hospital closed their NICU department until further notice. According to research from George Mason University, when babies are cared by White doctors, Black babies are more likely to die in comparison to being cared by Black doctors. With the recent incident with the Virginia nurse, we can see that racism exists even with the most educated in society and the fatal consequence of hate that stems from the color of someone’s skin. From the Tuskegee experiments, Henrietta Lacks, and Marion Sims, there is a long history of medical racism that costs Black people their lives up until this day. Not even our babies are safe. This is why I am a revolutionary birth worker and believe in birthing outside of the system and the care of traditional midwifery care. The one on one, tailored care for pregnant people is crucial to the overall health of pregnant folks and babies. But, then what happens if a baby needs the care of the NICU? We do not have these kinds of resources within our communities. We would have to transfer care and risk the death of our Black babies. These are the realities that Black and Indigenous people live with every day--the inherent distrust of the Medical Industrial Complex is grounded in the legacy of the delusion of White supremacy every single day.