Experiencing racism and xenophobia when coming to CA to help with Covid
I’m a psych travel nurse who had a horrendous experience at Metropolis State Hospital in Norwalk, CA as I attempted to come help with Covid, putting my life at risk.
As a travel nurse, I expect to experience whatever is thrown at me. What I experienced at Metropolitan State Hospital was beyond my expectations. It was an unbelievable encounter with rudeness, hate, racism, and xenophobia.
On the first day at the facility, the staff was extremely rude to all of us who picked up to come work and help with COVID. All my travel colleagues would agree and could speak to the disrespect given to us. I thought this may not be a place for me to work and almost quit. Wanting to stay in SoCal I continued the contract.
The extreme hate began on the inpatient unit. A psych tech and I were having a talk about life. I mentioned my “gay culture” to him and he replied, “what is gay culture.” In an aggressive manner. I saw his body language change, eye contact decrease and his fists even ball up. When I explained gay culture is my lifestyle he harshly stated, “That doesn’t exist. All gay people should come to Nigeria and be killed.” I replied stating that would never happen to me and I would protect myself in any way I needed. But I was fearful and shocked that someone could say that. I never reported this but spoke to a friend about what I could do to protect gay patients in hospitals, especially a state-run facility.
The next situation happened more recently causing me to resign. The snowball effect of hate forced me to never return. A person who came over risking my own health to care for COVID patients had to run far away. I also signed a lease in Long Beach so could not even return home after such a horrific experience.
So it started on another unit where I was talking shop with this shift lead on unit 409. We were talking shop and election results. The shift lead name Dia stated, “ I support Donald Trump because he is crazy like our patients so we should take care of him like we do our patients.” Her using the word crazy to describe a person with mental illness was alarming in itself. When you hear what happened next, that doesn’t even compare. I am someone who is asked every day, “Are you Arabic or Muslim? Are you from the Middle East?”, she intensely and rudely stated to me, “All Muslims should go back to where they came from!”
I was beside myself and had to leave the office and go to another unit. I absolutely told her she was xenophobic and doesn’t take care of “crazy” people because she hasn’t moved from the desk. I reported it to the manager right away and said I can not work there. They moved me to another unit. I am unsure if any action was taken, but I highly doubt it. The manager did not take any of my information. I quit and no one from the facility had reached out to me (5 days after I am writing this).
I believe some form of justice should be served. Staff has said this is the culture of Metro and they are not surprised. Taxpayer money of gay and Muslim civilians alike find this facility and pay the salary of those who hate them and verbally express it freely. I fear for the patients who fit the criteria of what some of these staff members see less than and believe should be dead or deported.
Please respond with helpful advice? How should I move forward to get justice?
Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
3 minutes ago, 0.9%NormalSarah said:
No, and I am glad you brought up this scenario, as it is a common organic interaction among coworkers that I think would be relevant and appropriate. I’ll be honest, I think there is more to the story here. I highly doubt this is as simple as the OP stating their orientation and getting this response from the coworker. It’s just a very outlandish story, especially here in California. I should know, too. I share an alternative orientation and have had plenty of opportunities for people to treat me this way. I think there is more going on here and your well-intentioned comparison is not quite apples-to-apples because we are likely missing key information about how the OP truly came across or what exactly was said. It strikes me as odd that OP did not report someone that said they should be killed. Why was that? That is overtly hostile. The only reason I can think is that what was told to us is not exactly what was said and the coworker is being described dishonestly.
I'd have to say I was shocked by the OP's account as someone who also live in California myself. I can't make assumptions on what the OP did nor make a judgement of the motives of a person I don't know...though he does have strong opinions and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I prefer to be objective. Like you, I would also immediately call HR if I heard a co-worker say what was said to the OP and many of co-workers would do the same.
5 hours ago, NurseBlaq said:
Does that need to be the center of your initial interactions with people?
I'd have to say I was shocked by the OP's account as someone who also live in California myself. I can't make assumptions on what the OP did nor make a judgement of the motives of a person I don't know...though he does have strong opinions and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I prefer to be objective. Like you, I would also immediately call HR if I heard a co-worker say what was said to the OP and many of co-workers would do the same.
I agree, I can’t necessarily assume. I only have the info we have here, and I just think there may be something that isn’t adding up. I’ll add in the possibility that something terrible was said by the coworker and that OP’s description of it may sound over-the-top because OP is having a very emotional response. I definitely don’t think OP should stand for working in that condition. As for the second coworker who said something about people being crazy, I’m dismissive of that because it’s probably just a joke in poor taste. I tend to just change the subject or stay away, if I’m not the one making it myself, LOL.
I still do stand by what I said, though. Social and professional interactions should be handled with care. If we truly want to be inclusive, that includes leaving room for people we may believe are on the wrong side of history, but they share our space nonetheless. We can all care for patients together and act cordially, and sometimes that means setting our activism on the back burner while we are at work, at least until we truly know the audience.
Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
50 minutes ago, 0.9%NormalSarah said:
I still do stand by what I said, though. Social and professional interactions should be handled with care. If we truly want to be inclusive, that includes leaving room for people we may believe are on the wrong side of history, but they share our space nonetheless. We can all care for patients together and act cordially, and sometimes that means setting our activism on the back burner while we are at work, at least until we truly know the audience.
I think we all agree on the fact that polarizing topics are best left out of social interactions for the very fact it can trigger strong responses from people who don't necessarily conform to our way of thinking. That's the climate in this country right now. I, however, do not agree that gay people should hold back their "coming out" to co-workers until they have established some sort of rapport or friendship. A mere expression of one's "gayness" should not trigger the kind of reaction the OP got, ever, in any type of conversation. That's not a gray area for me.
Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.
1 hour ago, juan de la cruz said:
I think we all agree on the fact that polarizing topics are best left out of social interactions for the very fact it can trigger strong responses from people who don't necessarily conform to our way of thinking. That's the climate in this country right now. I, however, do not agree that gay people should hold back their "coming out" to co-workers until they have established some sort of rapport or friendship. A mere expression of one's "gayness" should not trigger the kind of reaction the OP got, ever, in any type of conversation. That's not a gray area for me.
A mere expression of one's "gayness" should not trigger the kind of reaction the OP got, ever, in any type of conversation. That's not a gray area for me.
I think we all agree with you on that one but unfortunately we only have the context of the OP and the subsequent retorts from the author on which to form our judgement of the situation. If his behavior here is any indication of his behavior in the work place then I have to wonder if it was less a " yeah so my boyfriend and I did yada yada yada.." and more an in-your-face kind of confrontation. Sure, you can say that we are assuming the negative but on the flip side you are assuming the positive. Of course that is certainly is your prerogative but you really can't say one is more right than the other because they're both assumptions. In addition the OP comes off as a bit of a tool by claiming he's "risking his life" to help during Covid. Risking his life? Come on. Maybe if he was in the ED or ICU or working in a Covid tent but a psych ward? It sounds like he was expecting some hero's welcome that was not forthcoming and everything went downhill from there.
FTR I'm not disputing that the behavior, as reported by the OP, was anything but absolutely despicable and should be reported immediately but his attitude displayed here makes me struggle with taking what he said happened at face value. It shuts down what could be very good dialogue and does nothing to forward his cause. Perhaps with less aggression and snark spewed at the membership I can be convinced.
Everything about this statement makes me cringe as a member of the LGBTQ community. The use of words such as sashaying and flamboyance were very intentional, would likely never be used to describe any heterosexual coworker talking about their partner or orientation, and is an example of the passive aggressive/subconscious dealings many of us encounter on a regular basis.
I am truly sorry and sad that you and others in your community feel regularly such ugliness from others.
The trouble is that others outside your group find the ways of your group to be either scary and threatening or ungodly or repulsive or otherwise unacceptable. The outsiders are unhappy about being told that they must now, these past 25 years or so, keep quiet about their own values, morals, and religious beliefs, must tolerate yours, must see the views with which they grew up be destroyed.
I'm speaking to the OP's attitude and situation in this thread. Why are you offensive and accusing people of saying/doing/having attitudes about things unsaid or not relayed in this thread? This isn't personal, it's a reflection of the information and attitude provided by the OP. Again, how do you explain OP dismissing people who are apart of the LGBTQ community who also replied in this thread and have the same view as the rest of us? Get over yourself.
I’m responding to what is being directly and clearly communicated in this thread, that advocacy for LGBTQ+ issues has no place in our work as nurses and that the OP needs to keep their head down and shut up. We treat people who are part of this community, and bigoted views among nurses impact patient care. How do I explain that LGBTQ+ people disagree with that? It’s not a monolithic community and we don’t all agree. And it’s probably a reflection of how widespread discrimination against non-cishet people is.
Suggesting that those of us who disagree are engaged in performative allyship is presuming that those who disagree with you aren’t also part of the LGBTQ+ themselves.
Regardless of the OP’s behavior here, nursing staff reacting to their sexuality and ethnicity with aggressive and violent words and body language is deeply concerning for the care LGBTQ+ and non-white patients are receiving at that hospital.
But that is what the post is about. It’s about you saying something at work that did not get you the reaction you wanted. Granted, the reaction was definitely not cool. I think what posters are trying to do here are to identify ways you can avoid these reactions in the future, and your behavior is actually part of what needs to be modified. There’s a reason why some of us who have alternative orientations almost never receive the kind of reaction you did, and that’s because when it does come up, it does so organically at an appropriate time with people who have gotten to know us. Again, it is not the most interesting or important thing about our identities. We are merely suggesting you see interactions with new coworkers as just that rather than an opportunity for activism. Once you have rapport with others, you can certainly talk with them at an appropriate time about the social issues for which you feel passionate.
Yes.
However, the appropriate time might never come because some people really do go to work to work, not to discuss things unrelated to the job. The focus is on actually working, not on making friends or discussing topics not directly related to the job.
And in a case with such an explosive topic as politics, religion, homosexuality, gender, and anything other than picking out your health plan for next year, a person might find them too volatile, too filled with land mines.
And a person knows that there could be serious punishment, even job loss, for an expression of anything other than acceptance of views and behaviors that he/she finds abhorrent and indicative of the breakdown of the world as he/she once knew it. Said reaction is on TV and on the job, etc. when politics, religion, abortion, sexuality, etc. come up.
True. But would you want them cared for by a worker whose focus is on him/herself/itself the way this poster has described?
No insult is intended re: the pronouns/adjectives above. I just don't know which is the person's preference and don't want to offend by using the non-preferred one.
FYI, “it” is never appropriate to use for someone’s pronoun like this. I saw it thrown in elsewhere in this thread as well and it’s reflects a big knowledge gap on caring for transgender patients. Unless an individual explicitly tells you to use “it” as their pronoun, it’s offensive.
They don't have to hide it but why go around throwing it in conversations randomly then feigning victim when they don't accept it. Is there not more to you as a person than your sexuality? Does that need to be the center of your initial interactions with people? I've worked with people who were obviously gay and/or transgender and said nothing about it as first, it wasn't important to me, second I didn't give a damn, and lastly, what the hell does that have to do with what we're doing at work? Nothing, so it needed to not be addressed. If they wanted to talk about it fine, but they didn't until we were actually acclimated and friends. Otherwise, it was irrelevant, as was my personal life.
Why do straight people go around flaunting their sexuality? Oh, because mentioning your life casually in conversation isn’t flaunting. And avoiding making the same casual mention of partners and spouses because it might offend people you’re talking to is part of what being closeted entails. So you can’t say you don’t think queer people should have to closet themselves but actually they probably should at work until they know it’s safe.
Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
2 hours ago, Wuzzie said:
I think we all agree with you on that one but unfortunately we only have the context of the OP and the subsequent retorts from the author on which to form our judgement of the situation. If his behavior here is any indication of his behavior in the work place then I have to wonder if it was less a " yeah so my boyfriend and I did yada yada yada.." and more an in-your-face kind of confrontation. Sure, you can say that we are assuming the negative but on the flip side you are assuming the positive. Of course that is certainly is your prerogative but you really can't say one is more right than the other because they're both assumptions. In addition the OP comes off as a bit of a tool by claiming he's "risking his life" to help during Covid. Risking his life? Come on. Maybe if he was in the ED or ICU or working in a Covid tent but a psych ward? It sounds like he was expecting some hero's welcome that was not forthcoming and everything went downhill from there.
FTR I'm not disputing that the behavior, as reported by the OP, was anything but absolutely despicable and should be reported immediately but his attitude displayed here makes me struggle with taking what he said happened at face value. It shuts down what could be very good dialogue and does nothing to forward his cause. Perhaps with less aggression and snark spewed at the membership I can be convinced.
Wuzzie! love ya...anyway, I actually don't find "in your face" confrontation when a gay person defends their sexual orientation objectionable. Just like any other group that has been exposed to oppression and marginalization, there is a lot of anger and part of that might have been the OP's relative youth.
The truth is, you don't necessarily know a person's history to make a judgment. Many gay youth have been disowned by their own families after coming out. Many young gay people had to leave the town they grew up in where they were teased and bullied. How would you even explain how these could affect a person's interaction with people?
Well, our Psych Ward has had one COVID positive patient so it's not out of the question but yes, different than picking up ER or ICU shifts. Regardless, the OP felt unwelcome in that hospital because of perceived and real homophobia and racism in the hospital's culture.
Wuzzie! love ya...anyway, I actually don't find "in your face" confrontation when a gay person defends their sexual orientation.
Oh no, me either. I've watched my sister struggle with this in our own family. But I still am highly suspicious of what actually transpired. Frankly, I don't give a hoot who people choose to sleep with but I really don't want the details, hetero or homosexual because...gross. I had an experience long ago with a gay RT who loved to give us all the gory details of his latest sexual exploit, and I mean all the details. If anybody asked him to stop he started screaming they were "homophobic" and he was being discriminated against when it was nothing of the sort. Not saying that happened with the OP just saying it makes me question what actually went down.
Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP
8 Articles; 4,475 Posts
I'd have to say I was shocked by the OP's account as someone who also live in California myself. I can't make assumptions on what the OP did nor make a judgement of the motives of a person I don't know...though he does have strong opinions and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I prefer to be objective. Like you, I would also immediately call HR if I heard a co-worker say what was said to the OP and many of co-workers would do the same.
Is that what the OP did?