I want to know how other people would react.....Am I over reacting?
Not too long ago, my nursing dept got a new health manager due to the expected retirement of the existing health manager. The nurse who was about to retire has a name that does not sound ethnic, (Please do not blast me) just say its Susan Brown. She stayed on to train the new health manager before officially retiring....
Another nurse and I needed needed to get certified in CPR, and Mrs "Susan" gave me her corporate card to pay for the class. Ok. Here's what really burned my tail. The new manager, told me she was nervous about me using Susan's corporate card, because I dont "look" like a Susan Brown!!!!! I felt my face turn red, and I said....Well, my name is Cynthia Johnson, what do I look like my name is, Maria Gonzales? To explain a little bit more, I am half mexican and half black. I look very ethnic. I was very hurt and furious at the same time. I have never been made to feel like that before. Am I over reacting? Would any body else taken this to be a prejudiced statement?
Well, about a month later....the new nurse manager was suspended for sending a racist email through the company email network. The email was called...."I am white and proud" and was horrible. It stated how unfair it was to have an all black college like spellman or moorehouse, but if white people wanted an all white college, it was considered racist. Or, why was it ok for black gansters to promote violence against white cops, but it was unacceptable for white cops to beat "n----rs! I dont even want to repeat some of what the email said.
The new nurse manager was suspended for three days. We then had to have a meeting with her, to listen to how sorry she was, and that she was not a racist, that she just wanted people to "ponder" some of the ideas in the email. She asked us if we thought she was racist, and that she believed she never acted that way. I told her that she did, when she told me I didnt look like a "Susan Brown". I told her that I have never felt so humiliated, and that she made me "realize" my differences as far as ethnicity goes. I asked her to look at me, and tell me what she saw. Did she see someone who made a 4.0 in nursing school, someone who was named an All State Academic Scholar, or did she see a minority female who didnt "look" like a Susan Brown? She couldnt answer.
