Im am being harrassed at work possibly because of my race

gonzo1, ASN, RN · May 25, 2009

Being a blond haired, blue eyed white girl I feel free to defend minorities by saying racism exists out there big time. I've seen it and heard it for African Americans, Mexicans (not all are aliens) and Phillipinos.

EVeryone is just getting better at hiding it. My husband and I deliberately raised our son in a mixed neighborhood so he would know that race has nothing to do with it. We are very proud of the way he turned out too.

Get out of your gated, security clad community and see what the real world is like.

carlasbizz · May 25, 2009

Yes, prejudice will exist until the end of this world. People who hide this are not facing the true reality. I have a daughter who works for a registry, she told me she was taking care of a young woman about 17 years old. The young woman was in foster care most of her life, at shift change, in report my daughter heard the nurses talk about this young woman. She told the other Nurse that this girl will probably end up on welfare and that most Mexicans and African woman end up living on welfare taking advantage of the system and getting pregant. Well, my daughter happens to be both race, she didn't say anything, and walked out of the hospital @ the end of her shift. My daughter was upset and hurt my what these two nurses talked about. The world will come to an end and when that happens everyone will get what they deserve.

Angela.RN2B · May 25, 2009

No It's not that it's the Im a Nurse and your not factor. I've had these people cut me off mid sentence. Start talking over me while Im talking as if what I say doens't matter. Make fun of Black patients and I am not the only person who sees this I also have been told I better buckle down and study hard if I want to be a Nurse. And am I sure I could afford Nursing school? Well I can say this I own my haouse I own my range rover, I also have never pruchased a car on payments. I am in a place financially that yeah in ways I am well off but that is because I am frugal. I make wise choices with my money I am not extravagant but I like nice things. I have never had a credit card and my Credit is absolutly perfect WHY? because I make sure to be sensible. and for them to assume Im poor cause of my color is BS I went to private school both of my parents are surgeons but noone knows this because I dont ride on the coat tails of other. I want to be a success in my own right and I have never asked anyone for anything. I cannot lose this job because I have to kids to set a fine example for. Even though we may live in a expensive neighborhood we did not get her easily nor by accident. I may make 10 and hr. but I work hard or my money I wnat my kids to learn to make theor own way. There is never an excuse to disrespect anyone. Honestly my hsband owns a multi million dollar business and we mingle with a lot high class people. But the woman with the most class I ever met was a single Mom at community college who walked to school in the rain cause she could either put the last $15 in her gas tank or feed her 3 kids her old man wlaked out on. She graduates this spring with a degree in Nursing as well she comes from nothing but she never ask for anything but unlike these nurses I work with she always has a smile on her face. My mother could kill over right in front of me and believe me she is my world but I would never make someone feel bad at work becasue of what happen to me today.

Angela.RN2B · May 25, 2009

No they make blatant racist comments

Magsulfate, BSN, RN · May 25, 2009

Being a blond haired, blue eyed white girl I feel free to defend minorities by saying racism exists out there big time. I've seen it and heard it for African Americans, Mexicans (not all are aliens) and Phillipinos.
EVeryone is just getting better at hiding it. My husband and I deliberately raised our son in a mixed neighborhood so he would know that race has nothing to do with it. We are very proud of the way he turned out too.
Get out of your gated, security clad community and see what the real world is like.

How about being the only blond hair "white girl" on a unit which is full of black nurses. I have worked like this, and made a few good friends there. But, not a day went by that they all didn't huddle together and talk about the "white devil" and sneer at me when I told them I would not vote for Obama, I never heard the end of that one. After that I was just a stuck up white girl and ended up getting all the crap assignments. They would even change the assignment in the mornings so that it would make it easier on them, and worse on me.

I somehow had to make up for years of slavery by taking the worst of the patients. Two of them even made this remark when I tried to complain about my assignment one day.

SO, it goes both ways. I don't want to hear that the white girl doesn't get racially profiled. Because it happens a lot.

Angela.RN2B · May 25, 2009

I love my job and do it well. I have many patients who complain about these nurses and their attitudes. Like the Nurse is doing the pt. a favor. No the pt. is paying your wage. My attitude is right I hear these Nurses say they hate certain patients I hear them make remarks that because a african american pt. has HIV it's no wonder they are the highest woth the disease. This place is full of **** where I work and I think it's high time they face the music.

AOx1 · May 25, 2009

It seems that many people never quite get past that childhood stage of needing to point out differences. I remember when my niece was a small child. She would point out EVERYTHING about anyone who was different. "Auntie, that man is BALD!" or "Why is that boy's skin brown and mine is pink?"

I had to explain to her that we are all made differently, and that is a beautiful thing. She needed to understand that unfortunately, the way we say things can hurt other people due to past experiences they have had with mean people.

Sadly, some people never learn, and they honestly think that those who don't look or act just like they do are wrong or that they are totally different. I've found that most people want pretty much the same thing. A kind word, to be liked for who they are, to be treated with respect.

I think you deserve colleagues who are supportive and kind. If you suddenly morphed into whatever they think is the physical ideal, they would just find something else not to like. Some people are just mean and unhappy and need to make others feel small. As much as it is tempting to say stay where you are and maybe you will educate these silly people, I don't think that's true. Years after all evidence to the contrary, there are still those who aren't smart enough to figure out that skin color/body shape/gener/sexual orientation does not define the person.

Of course racism is directed at every other race. But as a white person, I can honestly say I have seen it directed much more towards OTHER races. This is probably because where I live, whites are more prevalent. I do know that although I've heard racist comments made towards me, I have never gone through as much as what a close friend in high school went through. I started to notice that whenever we went shopping together, employees would follow HER around the store, but not me. One night I was pulled over when a tail light on my car was out, and they wanted to search our bags. They searched hers, and then said "Fine, go ahead!" NEVER searched any of my other friends things, and we were all white. We called that one in, needless to say.

As for your coworkers, let them stew in their misery. You will be too busy achieving your dreams.

Angela.RN2B · May 25, 2009

Funny this comes up my husband is WHITE and HE is the one who said to me. This is racism, the decreat white way, And he broke it down for me how it works. He is not being silly trust me he is white as they come!!! but he is just. and he believes in equality and even though some hites make stupid comments many times it's out of ignorance BUT does that mean I have to put up with it at work Absolutly not. You can be the grand dragon of the clan but when your a nurse working in a multi ethnic work place you better keep it in check is what he told me. You took this job as a racist knowing what it entailed and who I would be working for and working with. You cannot harrass peple just becsue you dont like them.

AOx1 · May 25, 2009

Does your hospital offer float pool or something similar for PCTs? Maybe you could use it to look around for better coworkers :) I have a good friend who worked on an abusive floor and she was able to use float pool to find a floor she did want to work on, with nurses who were kind and supportive.

PS- I was not referring to your husband as silly. I'm not sure where that came from. I was referring to people who still hold racial beliefs as silly and uneducated. I also did not say that you should have to put up with it, I said you deserved supportive colleagues. Not sure if your post was directed to me, but if so, I should clarify.

pagandeva2000, LPN · May 25, 2009

I remember one time, an White officer at my job had to take down and eventually arrest a Black man for basically showing his rear because he ran into the facility with his baby trying to avoid paying the cab driver that brought him there. He beat up the cab driver, but no one saw that, they saw the white officer have to take down this man alone. Later, many of the Black nurses tried to accuse him of racism. I happened to know this officer very well and knew that he is married to a Black Haitian woman and is deeply in love with her. I made sure that I told those women that so that they can cower in embarassment.

Criminals are criminals, no matter the color, and just because this officer is White did not mean that this was another Rodney King episode (and even that had two sides to a story). This man beat up a Black cabdriver that was 68 years of age. The perp had his infant child with him, exposing that poor baby to this mess. The situation was such a mess that the officers had to leave that poor baby with the pediatric nurses while they tried to reach the social worker and the child's mother. You cannot judge books by the color, nor generalize. And, I did not advocate for this man just because he was Black. He was WRONG! Period!!

pagandeva2000, LPN · May 25, 2009

Does your hospital offer float pool or something similar for PCTs? Maybe you could use it to look around for better coworkers :) I have a good friend who worked on an abusive floor and she was able to use float pool to find a floor she did want to work on, with nurses who were kind and supportive.
PS- I was not referring to your husband as silly. I'm not sure where that came from. I was referring to people who still hold racial beliefs as silly and uneducated.

I think that a float team is an excellent idea; I volunteered to be cross trained when I got sick of the antics in my old clinic and now that I moved on, I became a team leader...a rare opportunity for an LPN working in a hospital. Sometimes, you have become creative to move on.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 26, 2009

Being a blond haired, blue eyed white girl I feel free to defend minorities by saying racism exists out there big time. I've seen it and heard it for African Americans, Mexicans (not all are aliens) and Phillipinos.
EVeryone is just getting better at hiding it. My husband and I deliberately raised our son in a mixed neighborhood so he would know that race has nothing to do with it. We are very proud of the way he turned out too.
Get out of your gated, security clad community and see what the real world is like.

Thank You, and Thank you for teaching your children the way you do. I get so tired of all the mexican remarks, I have lived with them, and on various boards I would frequent it was like whenever a debate would come up, the notion was illegals are Mexican and Mexican people are Illegals.

I am part Mexican, I look more white though. I grew up with a racist father, who himself would call people beaners and so on and I am like HELLO my bio mom was Mexican. He is in complete denial that we are Mexican. He has gotten better through the years, but being that we always lived in diverse places (he was military) it was frustrating as well. When we lived in VA my school was about 80% black. I had tons of black friends, and sometimes if they came asking for me, my dad would say I wasn't home WHEN I WAS.

I teach my kids different, and I make sure they don't talk bad about anyone, much like me, it seems like all of my kids are primarily minorities as well. It makes me proud to see that. Not that they can ONLY be friends with minorities, but that they don't single them out. 1 of my sons looks full Mexican, but my other kids look white.