Nursing Me Black

[NurseThis21]

It was like I was a needle cap placed among a sea of cotton balls. It just seemed...off. Is it even possible? Where is my version of Florence Nightingale?

Perhaps I should get connected and join

• Association of black nurses
• Black nurses society
• Black nurses r us
• Nurses who are black,inc.
• You're black? And a nurse? Join us!

Maybe this was my ticket to finally feel like I 'm among the ranks of professional individuals, to belong even if it is dangerously close to the sidelines. As a nursing student, I always felt like I had to prove myself to my patients and my instructors. Even though I come from the fabulous city of Chicago, the majority of black nurses work for the county and therefore I was never in contact with them to be inspired, to feel safe, to find a reason to keep going.

But I did.

It was arduous, daunting, and exciting all at the same time, but I steered clear of anything that was a dead giveaway for an excuse. Since I come from a society that is seeping with self-doubt and a "crabs in a bucket" mentality, it wasn't a pretty journey; that's what made it perfect. It feels so rewarding to have little girls run up to me and say that they want to be a nurse now that they've seen someone actually come through the woodwork. It's like I give them hope for something that typically seems so unattainable. They have yet to experience true hardships and challenges, but hopefully I've shown them that it's all worth it in the end. They just need the passion to overcome any obstacle.

But you know what I realized?

It's not about being black and therefore feeling so accomplished about the day's work. It's about being a human being and a nurse. It's about recognizing your own potential before you begin concentrating on the color of your skin.

We don't need...

• Association of black nurses
• Black nurses society
• Black nurses r us
• Nurses who are black inc.
• You're black? And a nurse? Join us!

... To tell us that we're important. We can only find confidence within ourselves. We have already made great strides towards becoming whatever we want to be and our future looks even brighter.

Maybe it's best for us all to figuratively remove the rods and cones from our eyes and become colorblind. A white nurse is a black nurse is a Hispanic nurse is a Filipino nurse is a Chinese nurse is an Indian nurse. I plan on doing so just to show people how beneficial it is.

Yes, we may be outnumbered as nurses when it comes to statistics, but I choose to think of us as diamonds; rare and hard to come by!

Be human. Be beautiful. But most of all, be...lieve.

Nursethis21, BSN, RN

UIC Alumna

[musiclovinpisces]

Loved it ?

[Mookie427]

I'll title mine "Nursing Me White"

Stop playing the 'race card' and get on with your life and career. Do you think discrimination is a 'black' owned thing? Try being the only Caucasian and male on a floor of Black, Jamaican and Haitian female nurses. Each posse banded together to play each other off, and all played and prayed upon me, both staff and management. Unfortunately that was my first job and a rude awakening to the ugly side of nursing and human life. Thogh i wouldn't call those nurses human. I stuck with that job because it afforded me the learning knowledge of both telemetry and trauma, which afforded me a more lukrative opportunity in ICU at a different hospital. The last straw for me on that hate-filled sesspool was when a patient told me he did not want me as the nurse and to send in a Black nurse. I took a little charcoal, placed it on my face and asked if i was Black enough for him now. Needless to say, i walked out on that job, and found that greener (no pun on the color reference) pasture in a better setting.

It just goes to show you that even educated people can be racists.. and no one group has a lock on its nasty tentacles.

If that environment doesnt let you glow like a 'diamond' (get real), find a different setting to do your job.

[2bsy2slp]

Mookie427, While I understand your anger about your experience I don't think you can discredit someone else's experience. I'm sorry that you were treated in such a disrespectful manner, but why is someone playing the race "card" because they decide to discuss their own personal experience with racism? This is why people just sit by quiety and say nothing because when they do they are often told to "get over it" But as you can see from your own experience, its not always so easy to do. No one claimed to own the patent on racism but being a person of color certainly gives you a front row seat to the drama. I guess people take from things what they want to take from them. As long as people are different there will always be racism, maybe the racist and the ignorant people are the ones that need to get over it!

[NurseThis21, BSN, RN]

2bsy2slp said:

Mookie427, While I understand your anger about your experience I don't think you can discredit someone else's experience. I'm sorry that you were treated in such a disrespectful manner, but why is someone playing the race "card" because they decide to discuss their own personal experience with racism? This is why people just sit by quiety and say nothing because when they do they are often told to "get over it" But as you can see from your own experience, its not always so easy to do. No one claimed to own the patent on racism but being a person of color certainly gives you a front row seat to the drama. I guess people take from things what they want to take from them. As long as people are different there will always be racism, maybe the racist and the ignorant people are the ones that need to get over it!

Very well said! I was going to write something similar, but you took the words from me and put it on a silver platter!

Bravo!

NurseThis21, BSN RN

[Jasoninpa]

I don't take Mookie's post at all as dismissing anyone's experience. Rather, it is saying that you may have those experiences, but you're not the only ones. White people deal with it too; being white in the midst of mostly blacks in effect makes the white person "colored." Maybe Mookie, instead of using the "race card" term should have used the "victim card" term. Stop playing the victim because of your race, and move on. We see it all too often in society: black people or others using the victim card to explain their own failures. "It's not my fault, it's society's fault." This country strives to make opportunities available for everyone, and in fact roots for black people to succeed. Ever heard of Affirmative action racial quotas? Or black scholarships? Or black "civl rights" groups? Just because a person is white doesn't mean that they are born with a silver spoon, or that doors automatically open at one's presence.

Life is what you make it. The best way to stop stop discrimination is to stop discriminating.

[2bsy2slp]

I don't think anyone said that all white people were born with silver spoons in their mouthes. Secondly as I said we take from things what we want. Not all black people are playing the "victim". I work hard for what I have and what I want out of this life as the majority of people around the world do. I would go further but it would do no good. You are entitled to your opinion and your views of the world. Good luck to you and have a great day.

[mlblmt]

Thanks for a very insightful post of being black in Nursing. Not only am I black, I'm also male (gasp!) and live in the south! Reading your post triggered and epiphany as to why I have wanted to badly to work in the facility that I now do as a Patient Care Associate while waiting to take my boards to become an RN. Its the county hospital, in the middle of an economically depressed neighborhood, and has the reputation of being the hospital that only "poor, and indigent go to". Basically the one "all the blacks go to" is what thought but not spoken. That's the perception that the misinformed have. In truth, it is a tremendously great facility and it is here that I have found a culture of diversity that intuitively I would. Being the oldest child of a single mother in early 70's its my birthplace. So, I've come home so to speak. I am fortunate in that I have a place that will allow me to grow. This facility is a teaching hospital with a partnership with a HUGELY successful university. So I hope my journey will be a little easier, thanks to nurses like you that have come before me. I'm not so naive to think it will be all roses, but I have the legacy of many, many "colorblind" nurses as yourself to build me up and encourage me. So to you NurseThis21, I thank you.

[pednursedeb]

I am sorry for your experiences. I can't know how you feel, but I do hope things change. Your post seems bitter and I can understand that, I've had some bad life experiences as well. I try to move on from that and be the best person I can be. I don't really expect that to help you, just telling you about me. I still believe most nurses will welcome anyone into their group as long as they have the right attitude and are team players. That's all we ask for on our unit.

There are ignorant people in the world no matter what region of the country they come from and I don't mean stupid. You can be ignorant in one area and very wise in another. Some people need more education than others in some areas. Help teach them if you can and move on if you can't. I don't know what else to say. I do wish you well and hope that you work with good people and have support of friends and family.

[Jasoninpa]

Good point. I guess I'm saying people are people are people, life is what you make it, live and let live. Dwell on negative experience, it festers. Look for opportunities and opportunities will open.

[rkitty198, BSN, RN]

I will play the Nursing Me White card:

Only because I know now how it feels to be pulled out from the crowd and treated differently because of what I look like.

I lived in a city where there was 15% of White Americans, and there was 86% of Latino Americans.

I was constantly called Wera- meaning a light colored skin person. I was judged outright for looking different! I found it to be very offensive. What if I called them "brownies?" Even typing that feels offensive.

It took me a year to get the respect of the staff.

I would be told by Spanish speaking patients and staff that it was a responsibility of mine to learn Spanish, on a daily basis.

They would say that since I was living on a border city that it was something that I needed to do. Little did they know that everyday it was a goal to learn a new word in Spanish, and I could actually speak a bit of it. So they were sure suprised when they would tell me to learn Spanish and I would then throw out my newfound language skills!

I was told by staff that certain patients did not want me to take care of them, because I did not speak Spanish.

Finally it got so bad because I did start learning Spanish I would hear people talking about me, saying things like "she dosent know what she is doing." "Dumb Wera."

Staff would yell "Wera" across the halls and I would know they were calling for me. I finally stopped responding to that.

The worst thing for me was constantly being asked "where are you from?" With a quick "you cannot be from here because you are white." I was not from El Paso, but I was so tired of having to explain where I was from that I would tell people I was born and raised in El Paso. I would never ask them where they were from, because whether it be from the South Pole or Pluto it shouldnt matter.

I would get the worst patient assignments. Finally I started speaking up for myself so that way I could actually get out before 9pm.

Still, I went to work everyday. I learned Spanish by myself. I changed the way the staff viewed me. I was not a white girl with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had been through trials and tribulations in my life that were horrendous.

I finally started telling some of the staff about my family and how I did not have the easiest life. They were shocked, they actually believed that my family was wealthy and that this was my first job ever. Little did they know I started working at the age of 12, and had worked all through highschool and college to pay for my education.

When I was leaving the hospital to move, I was pulled aside by one of the Nurses who treated me the worst. She apologized for how she treated me and she started to cry.

Now at a hospital where being a White American is the majority, it is still bothersome. We have African American staff and they constantly get asked where they are from.

One day I was in the room with my African American CNA and he was asked "where are you from?" I said that I lived in a city where the Hispanic culture was dominant and I was asked that constantly, and it really hurt my feelings to be asked that. She then said she was "sorry," and that I was right.

This awful treatment based on color is well just awful.

[Old and New]

Kudos to you for persevering! You're Black and I'm the oldest student in my classes...we all have something that makes us unique, don't we? Nursing is a demanding calling, and I'm ready to accept help from anyone who has the guts to be a good and caring nurse. I don't care if she looks like that one-eyed cartoon character, as long as she's keeping her eye on the bottom line, which, for all of us, is helping sick people get well and live the best lives that they can.

[mswhite]

mookie427...I'm confused. while you wanted the black nurse to stop playing the race card game...you were deeply hurt when you were asked to be replaced by a black nurse...yes...if i were in your shoes at that moment I would have been hurt...but to paint your face black? you insulted every black person by doing so...i too as a black nurse have been insulted..i.e..called a creature by a white patient, being sent to fetch water and ice when the white pt already had water and ice. (I'd walked into the room with a white cna). not once did i contemplated painting my face white to insult all white people. and yes, i too work with africans who tend to form their own click...my click consists consists of 2 women...one white, the other... samoan