Patients and the race card

[CanadaEh]

I am a fairly new nurse and many of my co-workers have run into situations where a patient pulls the race card on them. This has not yet happened to me, but I'm sure with time it will.

Just wondering how others have handled this type of situation and how patients have reacted.

Thanks!

[MassED, BSN, RN]

yes, people should not see you as representing anyone else, of either today or from the past.

i have been watching a video about the weathermen underground. this was a violent revolutionary group during the sixties and early to mid-seventies. their goal was to bring down the establishment - wealthy corporations, congress, rich whites had to go, had to stop doing things like waging war in vietnam and discriminating against and harming blacks, hispanics, native americans, and other non-whites in america.

they were white college students who, for whatever reasons, felt guilty about being more privileged than a lot of

non-whites in america and the world. none of them, of course, ever were slaveholders themselves. maybe some of their ancestors had been, i'm not sure. those of you here who are younger might have heard of the sixties - woodstock, berkeley, kent state, lsd and other drugs, communes, hippies, flower children, the jesus movement, the black panthers, malcolm x, dr. king, of course, the assassination of pres. kennedy, chicago 1969, and various other well-known events and people of that time in history.

mainly my point is that i don't really know why these kids felt guilty for being what they were by birth, not through any conscious efforts of their own, but just by birth - well-off white kids. they personally had never, i'm sure, done anything to harm any minority. why should they feel guilty? well, i don't think they should have.

as a black man, i definitely appreciate anyone who wants to help me and my people. but i don't like it when someone feels guilty for something they did not do, something over which they had no control.

i support any whites who don't feel guilty about what happened to blacks in america before they (the whites) were even born. if i were white and i knew that my family and i had never been slave owners or done anything to further jim crow america, or ever did anything in any way to harm minorities, i would not feel guilty and i think others should not feel guilty either when they obviously are not guilty. the sins of our forefathers are just that - the sins of our forefathers, not our sins.

:yeah:very smartly said.

[MassED, BSN, RN]

The trouble isn't unions, it's spineless managers.

oh it permeates a lot deeper than just managers..... a lot deeper.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

if you read the responses, they had nothing to do with hatred of whites. some of the posters are offfended by the use of the term "race card" because it implies that minorities arbitrarily use race as an excuse to manipulate others and that racism does not exist. get it?

that was harsh, nasty and unnecessary.

indeed, there are people of various races who hate whites. and that's racism as much as hating blacks, asians, latinos or native americans.

[SharonH, RN]

i'm thinking your dtr must be a teen?

if so, let me know what she likes.

i'm looking for some outerwear for a 17 yo feminine and grungy girl. :redbeathe

enjoy the time w/dd.

(and your hair done on a sunday???)

leslie

She's 18 and she shocked me by choosing a plaid pea coat. I've been trying to get her to wear a decent coat for years. Maybe she's finally growing up?

I go to the salon at Wally World to get my hair done, they're open 7 days a week. They're good for something, who knew?

[SharonH, RN]

yes, people should not see you as representing anyone else, of either today or from the past.

as a black man, i definitely appreciate anyone who wants to help me and my people. but i don't like it when someone feels guilty for something they did not do, something over which they had no control.

and that nurses' aide is an embarrassment to me, as a black man. she needs to do her job and stop making other blacks look bad by being such a lousy worker.

korky, excuse me if it seems that i'm picking on you but do you not see the glaring contradiction in these comments?

whites should not feel guilty for the sins of their forefathers. fair enough. but you are embarassed by the actions of someone else who happens to be the same race as yourself? really? i don't see why her (lack of) work ethic should reflect on me and i reject the idea that she makes other black people look bad. she only makes herself look bad.

[SharonH, RN]

that was harsh, nasty and unnecessary.

indeed, there are people of various races who hate whites. and that's racism as much as hating blacks, asians, latinos or native americans.

i never said there weren't people of various races who hate white people. why don't you go back and read my comments in context and then comment. thanks.

[metal_m0nk, BSN, RN]

Korky, excuse me if it seems that I'm picking on you but do you not see the glaring contradiction in these comments?

Whites should not feel guilty for the sins of their forefathers. Fair enough. But you are embarassed by the actions of someone else who happens to be the same race as yourself? Really? I don't see why her (lack of) work ethic should reflect on me and I reject the idea that she makes other Black people look bad. She only makes herself look bad.

If I get what Korky is saying, then there's no contradiction. Someone who acts out of guilt over the thoughts and actions of their ancestors is disingenuous. People want to recognized and treated well based on their own merit and kindness, not because of white guilt - it's patronizing when it happens. It's diminutive. And while it is true that the individual in the example is making herself look bad, it is naive to think that it ends there. It doesn't. In the real world, someone like that can unravel all the work that a black man has done to prove himself to be more than just the embodiment of someone else's prejudices and assumptions.

[SharonH, RN]

If I get what Korky is saying, then there's no contradiction. Someone who acts out of guilt over the thoughts and actions of their ancestors is disingenuous. People want to recognized and treated well based on their own merit and kindness, not because of white guilt - it's patronizing when it happens. It's diminutive.

All true but that is not what Korky was saying. His exact words were "Yes, people should not see you as representing anyone else, of either today or from the past" He then goes on to relate his embarassment over what someone who shares his race did as though she was representing the rest of us. That is a definite contradiction.

And while it is true that the individual in the example is making herself look bad, it is naive to think that it ends there. It doesn't. In the real world, someone like that can unravel all the work that a black man has done to prove himself to be more than just the embodiment of someone else's prejudices and assumptions.

Oh it ends there because I say it does. I am fully aware that there are individuals who will choose to use the actions of that one person to judge an entire race but I don't have to capitulate to that line of thought. If that's how someone chooses to think, that their problem. The idea that a Black man has to "prove that he is not the embodiment of someone else's prejudices and assumptions" is insulting. I can only speak for myself of course, but I'm not trying to prove myself to anyone, I don't care what someone else who may look like me does. I will be treated as an individual and judged on my actions alone, same as I do for others.

[metal_m0nk, BSN, RN]

All true but that is not what Korky was saying. His exact words were "Yes, people should not see you as representing anyone else, of either today or from the past" He then goes on to relate his embarassment over what someone who shares his race did as though she was representing the rest of us. That is a definite contradiction.

You see what you want to see and funnily (read: ironically) enough, you assume that's the way it must be.

Oh it ends there because I say it does. I am fully aware that there are individuals who will choose to use the actions of that one person to judge an entire race but I don't have to capitulate to that line of thought. If that's how someone chooses to think, that their problem. The idea that a Black man has to "prove that he is not the embodiment of someone else's prejudices and assumptions" is insulting. I can only speak for myself of course, but I'm not trying to prove myself to anyone, I don't care what someone else who may look like me does. I will be treated as an individual and judged on my actions alone, same as I do for others.

You have been fortunate then, to have never had the prejudices and assumptions of others affect any arena of your life outside of your self image.

[leslie :-D]

You have been fortunate then, to have never had the prejudices and assumptions of others affect any arena of your life outside of your self image.

i know then, that i am fortunate too...

because i truly don't give a damn what others think or assume about me.

i keep what is worth keeping, and blow the rest away.

i do believe that i/we are not alone.

this is the way that secure folks feel.:)

leslie

[metal_m0nk, BSN, RN]

i know then, that i am fortunate too...

because i truly don't give a damn what others think or assume about me.

i keep what is worth keeping, and blow the rest away.

i do believe that i/we are not alone.

this is the way that secure folks feel.:)

leslie

Assumptions can be dangerous and debilitating when a person in a position of authority holds them. Sometimes they affect your livelihood. Sometimes they affect your life. You are fortunate indeed. But you are not the be all end all of human experience.

[leslie :-D]

But you are not the be all end all of human experience.

nope, i certainly am not.

as we have seen, it takes all kinds.

leslie