tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2899180445811668276.post2725957625778694611..comments2024-01-05T07:38:39.265-08:00Comments on PHYLLIS CARTER'S JOURNAL: CANADA'S ORIGINAL PEOPLE FACE RACISM IN HEALTH CARE - OY ! CANADA !Phyllis Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06923874190935369126noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2899180445811668276.post-72683098486249664592014-01-09T21:12:18.051-08:002014-01-09T21:12:18.051-08:00Hi,Ms. Carter. I am from Northeastern Minnesota, ...Hi,Ms. Carter. I am from Northeastern Minnesota, and we are blessed to have a large Native American population. It is shameful how these folks are treated sometimes. In schools, they are assumed to be unintelligent. In retail shops, they are assumed to be thieves. In the general public, they are assumed to be drunkards. Being biracial (half white/half black), I know how this feels. I was the first black baby born in our small town in 1974. It was assumed that I was even "worse" than the Native Americans on all points even though I received academic scholarships, awards, and have never been in any trouble with the law. To think that someone is mistreated based on appearance in a MEDICAL setting is more terrible than I have words for. I can relate from another angle as well. Partially due to the chronic illness in my life and the medications to treat it, I am very fat. When I was at the Mayo Clinic here in Minnesota, the nurse who weighed me rolled her eyes and gave a loud, disdainful sigh when the number was calculated. It did not help that I was a brown skinned person temporarily on governmental medical assistance. All factors seemed to be aligned for me to be thought of as "less than" by medical personnel. In a medical setting, people are at their most vulnerable, whether they have wound up there due to their own misbehavior, or innocently by simply being human with an illness prone body, or by the criminal devices of another, or by some terrible accident, or perhaps the miracle of birth. I'm not sure how to make a difference, but I do know how to tell my own story. Sometimes people who know me well realize that they carry some of these prejudices in what seem to be almost invisible ways. When I am mistreated along these lines, and the friend (of the majority race) is outraged, it is then that they realize that they may have acted in the same poor manner. The fact that they KNOW me means that they are aware the negative stereotypes don't apply, and that they can no longer apply them to others. They know too much, now. As always, thank you for your writing.MaryAnne16https://www.blogger.com/profile/03158550902420479544noreply@blogger.com