Wanda Sykes is one of my favorite comedians. She does a bit about racial profiling and how it is alive and well. She speaks of a white person driving through a predominantly black neighborhood and how they keep their windows rolled up and their doors locked. She speaks of the sight of a black man running down the street with a large bag of money and how other black people will be yelling "run brother, run. You are making us all look bad." The same could be said of a white man running with a large bag of money and the statement would be changed to "He must need to get to the bank in a hurry to make a deposit." I think you get my point.
I continue to be blown away by racism that is still out there today. I was luckily raised to harbor no racism intentionally. The latest scandal with the Clippers coach that made blatant racial remarks literally blew me back on my heels. I was discussing it with a coworker whom is African American and I probably sounded very ignorant but I had no idea there was still such an undercurrent of racism alive and well.
Last week I took care of a Middle Eastern gentleman whom was from Iraq. This gentleman was 38 years old, had only been in the US for 5 years, and spoke very little English. He had a gentleman at his bedside at all times to interpret for him. Due to their customs, his wife was able to spend very little time at his bedside with him. It was very interesting to hear reactions from nurses, anesthesiologists, and techs that were female that worked with the two of them. I am sure it was more custom related but he and his friend came across as quite pushy and short tempered. At one point, the gentleman pulled the curtain and for lack of a better explanation, kicked me out of his room and told me the patient needed his rest and I was prohibiting that. I knew my humor would be lost in translation, so I deferred that in this moment. Then I got a bit angry, internally. I politely explained to the gentleman that yes I was bothering him, but he also had open heart surgery and I needed to give him antibiotics and heart medications that are important after surgery.
The gentleman had stepped out of the room for a bit and I was preparing the patient for his move down the hall. I needed to remove a couple of his IV's and his foley catheter. May I remind you that this man spoke very little English. I started with explaining that I was going to remove his foley catheter that was inserted in his private area that women in his culture aren't really allowed to see. And now this strange female is going to pull back all the sheets, expose him, and remove the catheter and that it may burn a bit. The whole time I am of course charading this whole situation out, looking like an idiot, I am sure. After my 10 minute explanation of a 10 second procedure, his words "I don't understand." My words, "Super!" Next I explained the removal of his arterial line which was an IV in an artery which requires pressure on the vessel post catheter removal so he doesn't bleed to death. No big deal. Again "I don't understand." So I successfully did both procedures, but when I was holding pressure on his arm after the catheter pull, it was then that the moment that I am not proud of occurred. I found myself looking at this man thinking, who comes to the USA five years ago and doesn't make the effort to learn English? Then my mind went to all of the bad things we as Americans have heard about Iraqi individuals pretty much all of my life. Thoughts of 9/11 popped into my head, the Boston marathon bombing which was supposedly influenced by the Iraqi war, and the suicide bombings that are way more prevalent than they should be. I found myself staring at this man as he lay there with his eyes closed, wondering if I should feel sorry for him, grateful for him that he made it to the US and is out of Iraq, or should I fear such a man. I had never really had such palpable thoughts of an individual until this day.
I let my thoughts and feelings of this gentleman marinate for a couple of days. After a couple of days, it was then that I spoke with an individual that is really good at viewing things from both sides of the fence. I explained to her that I was embarrassed to admit that I even had such thoughts and that I was ashamed of myself. She explained that whether it is good or bad, media is always teaching us to fear and dislike such individuals. All we really hear is how they hate Americans and their driving force is to destroy America any way that they can. When I step back I can see that, but it was eye opening for me, as I had never really had a situation where I was so blatantly racial profiling. Lesson learned. Sometimes individuals are aware of their prejudices and sometimes we don't even recognize it.
It's amazing what we sometimes teach ourselves!
