African American Care

SharonH, RN · Feb 1, 2006

:
I choose not to use the labels African-American, Italian-American, or Irish-American (unless they are indeed _____-American) and I have clearly stated to my children why.
I feel passionately that we need to come together as Americans, not separate ourselves further with labels. Call it my soapbox. I'm just trying to raise the next generation of Southern Americans. Singlehandedly-- I've got 5 of them! :rotfl: :rotfl:
Thank you, NEXT!
mo bello

Interesting viewpoint, one I'm not quite sure I understand. People get so defensive at labels, but really I believe it is your own beliefs which make you feel that they are "divisive". I have already stated that one of my best friends proudly identifies herself Italian-American. So she has a different heritage from myself. Why should that divide us? Why does she have to drop the "Italian" part for us to come together? Answer: she doesn't. In fact, her heritage and culture is a big part of who she is and it's part of her charm. I'm teaching my two little Southerners to respect all cultures and race and not see differences (or labels if you will) as something which divides but something which makes us unique and interesting. That's my soapbox.

live4today, RN · Feb 1, 2006

just a quick lesson in physical anthropology-
>>by limiting the criteria to such traits as skin pigmentation, color and form of hair, shape of head, stature, and form of nose, most anthropologists historically agreed on the existence of three relatively distinct groups: the caucasoid (caucasion), the mongoloid, and the negroid.
the caucasoid, found in europe, n africa, and the middle east to n india, is characterized as pale reddish white to olive brown in skin color, of medium to tall stature, with a long or broad head form. the hair is light blond to dark brown in color, of a fine texture, and straight or wavy. the color of the eyes is light blue to dark brown and the nose bridge is usually high.
the mongoloid race, including most peoples of e asia and the indigenous peoples of the americas, has been described as saffron to yellow or reddish brown in skin color, of medium stature, with a broad head form. the hair is dark, straight, and coorifice; body hair is sporifice. the eyes are black to dark brown. the epicanthic fold, imparting an almond shape to the eye, is common, and the nose bridge is usually low or medium.
the negroid race is characterized by brown to brown-black skin, usually a long head form, varying stature, and thick, everted lips. the hair is dark and coorifice, usually kinky. the eyes are dark, the nose bridge low, and the nostrils broad. to the negroid race belong the peoples of africa south of the sahara, the pygmy groups of indonesia, and the inhabitants of new guinea and melanesia...............................................mo bello

i wonder who those early anthropologists were...and what their ancestry was to come up with such generalized categorizations of the human race. :rolleyes: if i were to place myself in one of the three "categories" described simply based on "my physical appearance"....i'd be a true mix of "caucasoid" and "mongoloid". not one of the "negroid" characteristics mentioned define my physical stature, so perhaps my parents are accurate in denying they have any "negroid" ancestors. :uhoh21:

supermo · Feb 1, 2006

Interesting viewpoint, one I'm not quite sure I understand. People get so defensive at labels, but really I believe it is your own beliefs which make you feel that they are "divisive". I have already stated that one of my best friends proudly identifies herself Italian-American. So she has a different heritage from myself. Why should that divide us? Why does she have to drop the "Italian" part for us to come together? Answer: she doesn't. In fact, her heritage and culture is a big part of who she is and it's part of her charm. I'm teaching my two little Southerners to respect all cultures and race and not see differences (or labels if you will) as something which divides but something which makes us unique and interesting. That's my soapbox.

I see labels as divisive because I strongly oppose "separate but equal". There is a huge chasm between white America and black America and as long as we choose to separate ourselves from each other because of our race, we are harkening back to the dark ages in American history. I put a significant amount of the blame on the media, but that is a whole other can of worms.

We can honor our traditions and cultures without putting ourselves into a category. I am trying to teach my children not to use race as an adjective when they describe people. How often do you hear, "The little white boy, my black friend, her hispanic neighbor". Why isn't it, "The little boy, my friend, her neighbor"? Maybe with each generation we can improve. We can only hope.

I haven't mentioned my own heritage (outside of one reference to one European ancestor). I don't feel that it would help or harm the discussion so I don't think it is relevant. It is not the whole of who I am, it is just a part of me.

I know I can't change the world and this really has nothing to do with what the OP wanted to know........

Received an assignment today to report on African American health beliefs and practices as they relate to patient care. Anyone have any thoughts on resources or how to provide culturally competent care ?
Thanks in advance for your help!

In a nutshell, kindness, understanding, and empathy. Those are things that should be utilized in dealing with every culture. But as other posters have pointed out, race and culture are not synonymous. They are related, but not equal.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

kgkarma · Feb 2, 2006

I always refuse to check those "race" boxes.
Interesting thread. Ruby - I enjoyed your post - see what happens when we assume things. Your co-worker who assumed the patient was African American is kind of funny in a sad way.
My grandmother was born in Arkansas (she was caucasian) and she had lots of those same tendencies . .. . eating dirt was good for morning sickness. She had lots of home remedies for illness. Fried food was front and center - made the best fried chicken.:) She did expect you to look her in the eye. She didn't trust doctors. She was punctual.
I'll tell you who the folks are who are always late - farmers!!! They have their own timeclock and it doesn't coincide with a real clock.
steph

:rotfl:

MichaelLooney · Feb 7, 2006

Could you expand on #1? I cannot imagine not looking someone, anyone in the eye when talking to them. It would feel rude to me, as though I'm ignoring them, or not wishing to talk with them. Can you help me understand?

This one always buged me.

Now I'm not African American, yet being raised by a southern grandmother who was herself raised in the army, I was taught that it is disrespectful to look a person directly into the eyes, yet in school they stressed the importance of making eye contact with people when you're talking to them so they know you're actually paying attention. I tend to compensate the two and look at their lips. I figure if they're the sort who want eye contact, they think they're getting it, and if they aren't, I can say I wasn't looking them in the eye. And either way they're getting my attention.

MichaelLooney · Feb 7, 2006

She believed her illness was the result of a spell of some sort.

How do you know she was wrong?

There are many unexplained things in this world, and many more forgotten or ignored ones b/c we've decided that 'they don't exist in this day and age,' like old supersitions.

Yes, I'm sort of a hypocrite. I'll pick up any penny I find no matter the side that's facing up (figure its a penny more than I had before, and that can't be bad luck at all), and I don't worry about walking on cracks, yet I'm scared to death when someone opens an umbrella inside, or breaks a mirror. Of course you never know who's going to drop something on your head the moment yoiu walk under a ladder.

I also still beleive in the Evil Eye, and that wearing a Celtic cross can protect me from it (the general belief is that since the knots in a Celtic cross reconnect, and tracing them would go on forever, the Evil Eye gets distracted and traped within the never ending lines).

Okay, I know I'm just going on and on now, but just one more thing, about spilled salt. Its an old Roman custom b/c Legions who were based in the further reaches of the empire were paid in salt wafers. They understood that the body was made partly of salt, as well as the fact that it could be used to cure meats, and it was used as curency in trades with races outside their empire.

Okay, I think I'm done now. LOL

MichaelLooney · Feb 7, 2006

I think a lot of white people under the age of 30 think that "black" is an offensive term.

Yes, its me agian.

Being under 30 (only 26, to be exact), I'm never entirely certain what to call people of other races. I think it was a whole thing in the 80's where I kept hearing arguments about what to call people, then the 90's getting into the 'Politicaly Correct' titles for things. As a child we went from being told not to call African Americans '******s' because it was racially derogitive. Then we were told that calling them 'black' was equally as offensive b/c you should look beyond the colour of a person's skin. We didn't want to call them 'African Americans' because it was offensive to either A. people of dark complexions not decended from from Africans, or B. felt it was a negative impression resulting from their ancestroy rather than their personal accomplishments, or C. African Americans can also be 'white'. I could go on and on, but after 2 decades I'm still afraid to call anyone anything besides 'Sir' or 'Madam' (which is English, and is considered offensive to add the 'e' on the end, but if you're French, is 'Madame' as its considered offensive to leave OFF the 'e' on the end).

Anyway...

MichaelLooney · Feb 7, 2006

culture again.:)
i'm simply reiterating that it is a "culture thing" and not a "race thing" as to why certain people believe certain ways, and do certain things. there are already too many untruths in our world as it is that have many people around the world confused and ignorant as to what is and what isn't. this makes for an excellent educational topic, so glad this thread was started. :)

um...my beliefs aren't cultural. i was raised in va, in a religious family who didn't believe in such things. they actually made fun of them. it was my father who was always pointint out to me where certain ideas came from, my mother who was telling me how rediculius it all was becuase none of it was truth, and my grandmother who kept saying i shouldn't worry about such things. i developed the ideas i have now almost on my own growing up. i read about cultures in books, beliefs in books, etc. in books, and i developed things that i 'felt' fit me, even though i never encounterd anyone else who beleived (or at least admited they bleieved) the same things i do until a couple of years after i'd moved away from home.

so my culture was baptist and catholic based (don't ask...too long a story). i do believe in powers that most christians refute as either unexistant or invoked by a devil, yet i don't bleieve in saints or that commiting the sin of killing a person is okay if we're fighting for our freedoms (i couldn't go to war and kill someone after god made a big deal about people killing each other in the old testament, and jesus preaching love and forgiveness all though the new).

maybe 100 years ago culture would have been a stronger thing, when different regions and religions of the world didn't interact as much when they couldn't just hop on a plain and travel from ny to bangkok in a day, because traveling was so much harder. but now people can pop on line, or hop a plain, or get on a train, or climb in their cars, and almost instantly become inudated with different cultures and beliefs and different ways of the world and its slowely changing from america being the melting pot of the world, to the world gradually becoming the melting pot itself.

MichaelLooney · Feb 7, 2006

Yeah. One of my best friends is Italian-American, I know this because she proudly tells me and anyone else who will listen although she, her parents and grandparents were born and raised in MILWAUKEE. She proudly tells me of various customs and beliefs she practices because she's Italian, I bet it doesn't stick in anyone's craw when she says that. I have another friend who says that she is of Scotch-Irish descent she thinks and her Daddy puts on a kilt once a year to honor his presumed ancestry but no one cringes at that and says he is being politically correct, in fact I always tease her and offer her a special greeting on St. Paddy's day but when I refer to myself as African-American people get upset. I'm supposed to ignore my ancestry, or better yet pretend it never happened.

Funny thing is I've had the OPPOSITE esperience. I consider myself 'Irish American', though my father's side of the family is both Irish AND Scottish, and my mother's has both French AND Cherokee. Yet I've continually been 'shot down', so to say, about calling myself that by...well, everyone, because its 'imporper', yet the same people seem to make a big deal about calling EVERY 'black' person (and I put black in quotes because these people include people who are brown and darkly taned as well, and I've never actually seen a LIVING person with black skin outside of black and white photos and such) 'African American' like its some kind of religious ferver and a sin to do otherwise.

*sigh*

Guess that's what I get for moving out to the Mid-West, where people tend to still move to the other side of the street when they seen anyone who MIGHT be Native American coming down the side walk.

*rolls his eyes*

Edited: Let me just try to clear something really fast. What I 'consider' myself is American, pure and simple. But what I TELL people I am is 'Irish American' because when a person asks me what I am, that's the answer they're EXPECTING. It saves the whole trouble of them asking, 'What are you?' my response being, 'American', and them saying, 'But what are you?' Its like Religion. When someone asks what religion I am, they don't mean am I Christian or not. They want to know waht DEMONINATION I am, even though that's not what they asked. They just assume that because I'm 'white' (I really think I'm more of a peach-ish colour), I must be Christian. Would be funny one day to say 'Druid' since I do with them that everything has a spirit...but then I guess I could be Shamantic with the Native Americans as well...oh, well...

MichaelLooney · Feb 7, 2006

3. That's right. Family structures are matriarchal

In the Celtic Cultures (predominantly among the Gaulish tribes), that was true. In fact, most every culture at some time was matriarchal. You know why? I read about this in a book, and it makes absolutely perfect sense. Before all this 'gene' stuff where we could tie down who a person's parents were, the only tie you were absolutely certain of for a child was the mother. I mean, the mother poped the kid of her body. Who really knew what guy was the father except the one the mother said it was? HE didn't give birth. Socities were matri because only the mother could be determined with certinity.

MichaelLooney · Feb 7, 2006

Just want to post and say I'm done posting.

SharonH, RN · Feb 7, 2006

Just want to post and say I'm done posting.

THat's too bad, I was kind of enjoying myself.