AbstractPublic health realities in the United States indicate that unsafe physical surroundings, oppressive social arrangements, economic impoverishment, and political disenfran chisement threaten the safety and well‐being of countless aggregates. To affect change in health‐damaging conditions, nurses are urged to join with vulnerable groups, working together to expose oppressive situations and take action. As a guide for such emancipatory practice, the use of critical the ories as the conceptual basis for community health nursing is advoca