Indiana nurse loses job after rant slamming George Floyd and 'Black privilege' goes viral
A nurse in Indiana lost her job this week after posting a rant suggesting Black people have special privileges.
A video shared on Twitter on Tuesday identifies the woman as Kristy Ann Wilker, a trauma nurse from Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
"Black privilege is thinking you are deserved or entitled to something because of the color of your skin," the woman explains in the video. "They -- people, black people especially do get special scholarships. They are also shielded from a lot of scrutiny because of the color of their skin."
"I'm not a racist," she insists. "I would never treat any patient differently, I would never treat any human being differently. I think God loves everyone. I'm on the same page. However, I don't think that any race is above scrutiny, including black people."
The woman goes on to suggest that George Floyd, who was killed by a Minnesota police officer, had been wrongly made into a martyr.
"He started to have a freakout panic attack when they put him in the car probably because he was high on meth, Fentanyl and positive for COVID," she opines. "Was the police officer's foot in the wrong spot? Maybe but, you know, um, meth and Fentanyl and positive COVID are probably more leading factors to an [myocardial infarction] so do your research."
Later in the video, the woman says people need to "toughen up and grow up."
"Rise above it," she rants. "Some things will always be. I have never been a part of slavery. I don't know anything about that. I'm not raising children who know anything about that. You don't know anything about that. So, let's not pretend that our history -- that history -- not even ours because we're taking stuff out of history, right? Teddy Roosevelt? So, let's not pretend like that has any reflection on today's society."
"Because I feel like Black privilege is bringing that up and throwing it in white people's face so that they can get what they want and get respect," the nurse continues. "But racism is dead."
Twitter users launched a campaign to contact Wilker's work about the video.
Update: A spokesperson for Lutheran Hospital confirmed on Wednesday that "the individual who posted those comments" is no longer employed by the establishment.
Watch the videos and read the tweets below.