Racism- Part 4

August 20, 2025- Wednesday

Throughout my career, I worked to continue to provide equivalent care to people. I also worked to build positive working environments for the people who worked in my departments and those I hired.  I hired all kinds of people to work.  I worked to find people who I thought would provide good care and who could communicate well with patients.  I specifically mention communication because I had found how important it was to be able to communicate to patients what was going on with them and around them.  Hospitals and healthcare can be very confusing, and it can be frightening.  A nurse's ability to communicate was very important.  That eliminated a large number of people when I interviewed individuals.  If they could not communicate well with me during an interview, I knew they would not communicate well with patients.    

This is when I learned racism could run both ways.  Many times, I witnessed black nurses hired as nurse managers for departments.  These nurses were very good nurses, providing good nursing care and could communicate very well.  When these women were hired as nurse managers, within a year, almost the entire staff of that specific department were black.  Subtle changes were made in staffing and assignments that showed preference to black nurses and the non-black nurses eventually left or transferred to another department because of the inequities in the daily work. The hospital Human Resource Departments never intervened when these non-black nurses reported the inequities.  I saw this repeated several times.  It did not change my approach to hiring people regardless of race, but I did notice the wide berth that was given to minority managers.  

I also was given directives from Human Resource departments when I was able to hire into a vacancy.  I was specifically told when I was required to hire a minority and could not hire a white.  Thankfully, I was never in a situation where I had to fight a Human Resource department because I was able to hire who I thought was the best person for a job and it just so happened they were not the white applicants.  I know it could have been manipulated by the Human Resource department, but I was able to hire good people for the positions.  

I also knew I was able to help minorities succeed and move forward professionally in life.  With this moving forward, I also knew it would mean more money in their pockets and making their whole life better.  I would deliberately work to put these individuals in situations to get them necessary experience to allow them to be qualified for other roles.  I would also put them in high visibility projects so others throughout an organization would know who these people were and help them better themselves.  I did this regardless of race or sexual preference.   

I worked throughout my life to fight back against the racist upbringing I had.  I have always noticed skin color.  I have also always pushed back against color being a factor in my life‘s situations. My life’s experiences being what they have been, I do not have any non-white friends.  I have acquaintances that are not white but no real friends.  Why is that? I admit I live in a largely white world.  There are other things.  I am sure because I have been raised in a largely white world, there are many things about non-white cultures, I do not care for.  There are different priorities in life between many people in different cultures.  I think taking care of personal property is important. I know if people do not take care of their homes, it reduces the value of my property.  There are people who want to drive expensive cars but will let their homes go into disrepair.  There are different types of music I like but some music that is largely in one culture, I will not listen to because I do not like that type of music.  It is not because I am racist.  It is a preference.  There are other areas where the same principles apply but they indicate preferences not racism.  Some people do not want to understand that.   

We are going through a time now where the media is working very hard to promote primarily black individuals and black culture.  They will argue so many years were spent promoting primarily white people and white culture perspectives, they are just working to balance things out at this time.  My issues are that the time spent promoting minority stories is ignoring white stories.  If the minority stories were impactful, that would be great.  Too many of these stories though are not impactful and do not present value to the viewers.  The imbalance is very evident.  I have a choice.  I turn it off and go elsewhere for news about things I find consequential.  I am not interested in a small business owner who is black and now making cookies.  I want to know what is impacting all of society.  Because I am not interested in the minority owned cookie business does not make me racist.  Because I have seen the same story about black cowboys every year for ten years and I want to see a different story does not make me a racist.  I want to know something new.  

We are entering a time when some people claim common sense is beginning to take over from the overly biased years we have been living in for the last decade or so.  For the last several years, the most discriminated against person in society is the white male.  There are those women and minorities who would say, “It’s about time!”  There are many cases in history where the white male has been an absolute jerk to all involved.  Today, it is a systematic move to avoid giving white males preferred positions or basic attention as the knee jerk movement in society continues.  Those who have cried foul because of being discriminated against are now the same ones systematically discriminating against white males.   

 If history means anything, this pendulum will swing back the other direction in a few years.  Hopefully, this swing will land somewhere in the middle so the whole idea of dominating someone or another segment of society will stop.  Hopefully, there will be a balance when people will be recognized for their excellence not because they are simply part of a specific minority.  Just because someone can do a particular activity does not make it newsworthy.  If it is exceptional, it can be newsworthy.  

The fact is racism is not the society pervasive phenomenon it once was.  There are many more bi-racial couples although the media would have us believe all couples are bi-racial.  There are many minority politicians, doctors, lawyers, and influential people that did not exist thirty years ago.  Many minorities are living in homes as valuable as many whites.  Many minorities are smarter than I am.  Many minorities are living very affluent lives.  I am not living an affluent life.  My high school friend was in a much higher position than I was when she died.  She had an advanced degree from an expensive university.  I did not.  Her father was a respected physician in 1973.  She was much more financially sound than I was.  Unfortunately, she was not able to enjoy her position in life that she had worked for.  I am fortunate I have been able to live my life, and I sincerely wish my friend had been able to see her life through.  There are differences in people who happen to have different skin colors.  That does not mean one is greater than another.  It means life has been lived differently.