i remember always having the “c’mon son” face on during my brief time in nursing school. i was the only black woman in the room and when the instructor skimmed over the cultural diversity part, i raised my hand and stated, “ignoring the differences and pretending other cultures don’t exist is terrible. for example, i am the elephant in the room right now. all of you either talk to me like you don’t see a marked difference in our appearance or make me feel like the ‘exotic’ woman who wraps her head and talks about social justice. how are you going to treat your patients when you can’t even acknowledge your classmate?”
they all looked mad shook and they all stayed silent. i was done after that. though, mother nature took care of my exit. i learned a lot about tolerance in that setting though. it was good preparation for the next leg of my midwifery journey…
