Patients and the race card

Published

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!

Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.
i must've missed that post(s)...someone alleged an entire group of blacks was racist?

living in the city, i've certainly encountered a handful who seemingly resented white folks, but would never think to assign an entire race like that.

i'll have to reread this thread....maybe.

leslie

Sure leslie.....the exact quote was "It's very disturbing that minorities.......often do not understand that THEY are the racists." I like you so I wanted to save you from having to reread this thread again. blech.

Since that person didn't qualify their comments ie "some minorities or a few minorites" then I have no choice but to take the comment at face value that she meant that all minorities are racist. And we're too dumb to know it too.

*shrug* oh well, I've to to go get my hair done and then I'm taking my daughter to get a coat.

Toodles.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
*shrug* oh well, I've to to go get my hair done and then I'm taking my daughter to get a coat.

Toodles.

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

Up Vote Up Vote ×
A question for all of you...

I worked with an HCA once who, from her very first day of work, was an all around bad and miserable worker. Sleeping on the job, taking extra long breaks, not pulling her weight in patient care, improperly transferring etc., the list goes on. She had been suspended several times and management had been trying to get rid of her forever however, each time a disciplinary issue comes up she complains they're only trying to get rid of her because she's black. The union had been able to save her at least a dozen times. This has been going on for about 3 years and she still works there.

So, has she been playing the race card?

Uh, yes!

Btw, your bosses should be gotten rid of for being spineless.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
you won't see me discounting a word you said, dreamnurse2b. i can't ever walk in another person's shoes - as far as i know none of us has conscious control over how, where, when and to who we are born. but i can shut up and listen. i can try to realize that the entire structure of my experience from day one is mine alone -it is not yours so i won't disrespect you by assuming my story is "truth" and your story isn't.

i'm sure all of us at times wish we could shirk off the sins of our forefathers - we can't. even though i never owned another human being, i guess some of my ancestors may have, and the reverberations are still felt today. it isn't right that someone in their twenties has to shoulder some of the pain of our past. we're still a pretty young country. growing is a lot of learning and comes in uneven ways. some people will remain terminally stupid. all i can ask is that you see one person when you look at me - and i'll do the same for you.

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.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

kooky, i do believe i read something about "guilt syndrome", but will have to recheck my sources.

even if it's not guilt that folks feel, they can still feel horrified, sympathetic, and compassionate towards those who've endured unrelentless suffering.

that is not the same as pity...which i'm wondering, if that is what you're resisting?

(if so, i don't blame you.)

but if folks feel other empathetic feelings, i'm not understanding your reluctance...

leslie

Up Vote Up Vote ×
To this I would refer back to my original post in this thread. This woman may truly feel this way, whether she is a good employee or not. With that in mind, a person is only committing slander if they are maliciously saying something that they know to be untrue. The way she feels is just that.

In addition being a person who is black, but also a very hard worker, I can say that I have been the victim of racism in the workplace without a doubt. I usually can easily tell when I am on the receiving end of it. I won't go into details because I'd be here all night. What I will say is that when a lot of people in the workplace (not all by any means), claim a racial bias it is usually true to them. Note, I said true to them not actuality. So, if there is not a hint of racism behind your intent with this person, well state that plainly and let that be that.

Also, not in reply to the post quoted here but some others I saw, I am very well aware of the hardships, discrimination, degradation, and outright murders, that have been committed against groups of people in this world. I think that racism against blacks is a big deal in this country, because we were slaves in this country, we assigned different water fountains and bathrooms just over 50 years ago in this country, we were seen as less than other races in this country, and racism is still alive and well in this country. This country is home to former Senator of my state David Duke, this country is home to the KKK. So while oppression of any and all people matter, the discrimination of blacks in this country has been going on for some time, and it is STILL going on daily.

I am not one to cry rasiscm every chance I get. Honestly I don't, but I can say that I have been the victim of many times in my short life. That is a sad thing, that I shouldn't have to say. I am a twenty-something, and if you look into my eyes that have been on this earth since the 1980s you would be looking into the eyes of a person who has been told directly that she is too dark to be pretty, a person that has been told that people of her race could never hold any value in society, a person that has been told that everyone like her should be strung up and left for vultures. And that makes me mad. Not because those things hurt me, but because I am too young for this. What does this say for my children?

And with that said you can be sure, if I ever say that I feel someone is being racist, it's because I feel it in my heart, I feel it in my bones, and it is NOT a scapegoat or an excuse for ANYTHING!

With all due respect to you, DN2b, what you feel is not necessarily what the other party intends. We just can't know what is going on in someone else's head. I feel your pain, I empathize and sympathize with youand respect you, but you seem focused on the past. And there were terrible things that happened in the past.

Today, though, at least my own experience, seems to be that there is a lot of hatred of and animosity from minorities toward whites. Whites walk on eggshells today, fearful of offending us. i apologize if I hurt or offend you. These are just my own opinions, worth as much as an empty bank account when it's time to pay the bills. Everyone else is commenting, so I am just adding my worthless 2 cents.

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. If I were her boss, she'd be long gone.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
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?

Funny thing, I'm a minority also and I don't know anyone who hates Whites. In fact, most of us are so concerned with our careers, our health and our families that we don't have time to dwell on hating other races. So before you assign a certain mindset or belief to an entire group, make sure you know what you're talking about. I have never described anyone on this forum or an entire group as racist and I don't appreciate anyone else doing it either.

Did you not see the comment I made about use of the phrase "play the race card"?

I'm glad your own experience is that you don't know any minorities who hate whites. My own experience is different, though, and that's the angle from which I spoke. Sorry, I should have clarified that.

I don't think that I said that every single minority I've ever known hates whites. In fact, I know I did not. My apologies if I misled you or anyone else.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
kooky, i do believe i read something about "guilt syndrome", but will have to recheck my sources.

even if it's not guilt that folks feel, they can still feel horrified, sympathetic, and compassionate towards those who've endured unrelentless suffering.

that is not the same as pity...which i'm wondering, if that is what you're resisting?

(if so, i don't blame you.)

but if folks feel other empathetic feelings, i'm not understanding your reluctance...

leslie

Sure, compassion, empathy, horror - we all can relate to these, experience these when we learn of suffering.

Not sure what you mean about reluctance. I just think people should not feel guilt when they are not guilty. No one alive today was ever a slave or a slave owner. Many whites in America have not a single relative who ever was involved in slavery or Jim Crow in any way. Why should they feel guilty?

Even those whose ancestors did harmed minorities, held slaves, etc. - if they personally had nothing to do with it, why should they feel guilty?

Sorry for any confusion.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
unions protect all. Good and bad nurses. Therein lies the bad side of unions.

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

Up Vote Up Vote ×

If I may say, somewhat off topic, that one thing that we should be thankful for is that we are all able to have this conversation and debate in this wonderful FREE country. God knows we have done some horrible things in the past. But thank God we have come a long way!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
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.

Herein lies the problem.

It starts when people who are racially or ethnically different from the person who is observing behavior are automatically grouped together due to ignorance. It's the core definition of stereotyping.

Then, when this stereotype takes a foothold and invades our discourse, people who share the race or ethnicity of those behave in a preconceived stereotypical way become embarrassed by so-called "proof" of the stereotype's reality a/e/b the bolded phrase above

Then, the racial/ethnic minority becames divided within their own community, and those embarrassed are then labeled by their own community as "uppity."

This is a vicious cycle, and many can see that the only ones relatively free from this vicious cycle are the middle and upper classes of Western European whites in the US. Just being white isn't enough to protect one from it because I've seen stereotyping of Eastern Europeans whose immigration into this country increased exponentially only after the fall of Communism in the late 80s. It also happens with poor whites. And, no matter the race or ethnicity, homosexuals get it from everyone.

We are human beings and differences will always cause friction. I'm not naive enough to think the human race will ever have a kumbaya moment. We never will. But, what we can do is continue to work toward changing our culture enough to make explicit outward expression of prejudices culturally unacceptable, including the unsubstantiated claims of racism that are clearly used to manipulate and force acceptance of bad behavior.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Kooky Korky- I remember that time very well! I saw the boarded up bank in Isla Vista, CA and the Hearst Castle also with bomb damage. Those people were terrorists and destroyers (the Weather Underground).

I don't feel guilty. I feel quite a bit of distress about the hurt and divisions that are still very present today. I don't like it that the vast majority of all people are fair-minded and tolerant but the only voices heard are the strident and polarized voices on either side. This leads to mistrust and the "walking on eggshells" feeling. I've got a friend who tends to see everything through the racism filter - ie she got a crummy hotel room in New York City and said "I think it was racial". I might not agree, but it's certainly possible and there is no way in he1l I would say that she was imagining things.

White guilt is irrational in the sense that none of us were alive when slavery was present, but it occurs because so many whites have taken upon themselves the responsibility to make things right, even though it's really impossible to do so. That was the basis of Affirmative Action. If there had been no "white guilt" there would be fewer and more lax civil rights protections in the law than there are now. So rather than call it guilt I would like to say it's a feeling of charity. It makes me feel sad to read dreamnurse2b's post. My son is 23. He didn't have to endure what she did.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion