I went into nursing blindly, did not know what to expect but
ended up loving it. School was harder for me because most of my fellow peers
were Caucasian. There was obvious favoritism, but that is just the way things have
always been for me. I never let my instructor’s racist inappropriate comments
stop me from being the person I am today.
To re-cap the evil witch made a comment if I was tired because she
couldn’t tell from my small eyes in front of the entire class. This continued
during the semester, but with anyone that was non-Caucasian.
Fast-forward three years and still racism continues, but on
a more subtle note. I see favoritism all the time with management and their
protection among their own race. I remember when a friend of the Director was
hired as the evening supervisor, then promoted to unit manager. The position was
up for grabs and everyone that applied that was non-white was turned down. When
there’s a complaint about a co-worker not finishing her duty the response is
because she is a new grad. When a Caucasian male nurse did not follow through putting
a patient in harms way, nothing was every done.
I gave a patient more calories than I was supposed to and
was written up. Where is the justice? HR is caught in the middle because she sees
it, but keeps quiet because she has a family to feed too. Should we sit in
silence and let this continue or should we speak up and lose or job? It has
become a no win situation, are we being denied promotions because of our skin
color? I am American born Asian; my parents came here in the 60’s to live the
American dream. What is equality? Did it ever exist?
