Was most dominant. We aren't as dominant as we were, which is no big deal; thing is, people still insist we are.
You're right in that 'white' people don't need to learn about 'white' people--my beef is that it's just them having to learn about everyone else. Which would make sense if, you know, all of the nurses in my hospital were white.
Thing is? 30% are white. That's it. The rest are black (and yes, there is an entire chapter of things like 'look them in the eyes when you talk to them because...' and 'Never call them african american, because they are not all from Africa (I think that's a no brainer?). ) It's not just 'cultural' training, it honestly seems insulting--both for the nurses who have to take this class (they're being given no credit for being able to, you know, act like polite human beings), and to the races that are talked about in the book.
As for the 'white people are horrible', I see this as an extension of other things I have read by other people discussing 'white supremacy' and 'white privledge'...and many of them tend to combine the two. It's also rarely about other races (Although other races happily chime in on the 'whites are horrible' chorus).
See, thing is? Only a small portion of the nursing staff is essentially being put through 'sensitivity training' on this (that's the polite term, there).
Not the blacks. Not the nurses from India. Not the hispanics. Even though I would hazard a guess that they are about as well informed about cultures other than their own as the white nurses are. And I'm sorry, you can argue that there are more whites than anything else in America, but quite frankly, if one American has to do this, then all of them should.
And that's where I'm at. If that doesn't make sense, then I'm out of explaining ability.
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carisma_sensei
no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 09:55 pm (UTC)You're right in that 'white' people don't need to learn about 'white' people--my beef is that it's just them having to learn about everyone else. Which would make sense if, you know, all of the nurses in my hospital were white.
Thing is? 30% are white. That's it. The rest are black (and yes, there is an entire chapter of things like 'look them in the eyes when you talk to them because...' and 'Never call them african american, because they are not all from Africa (I think that's a no brainer?). ) It's not just 'cultural' training, it honestly seems insulting--both for the nurses who have to take this class (they're being given no credit for being able to, you know, act like polite human beings), and to the races that are talked about in the book.
As for the 'white people are horrible', I see this as an extension of other things I have read by other people discussing 'white supremacy' and 'white privledge'...and many of them tend to combine the two. It's also rarely about other races (Although other races happily chime in on the 'whites are horrible' chorus).
See, thing is? Only a small portion of the nursing staff is essentially being put through 'sensitivity training' on this (that's the polite term, there).
Not the blacks. Not the nurses from India. Not the hispanics. Even though I would hazard a guess that they are about as well informed about cultures other than their own as the white nurses are. And I'm sorry, you can argue that there are more whites than anything else in America, but quite frankly, if one American has to do this, then all of them should.
And that's where I'm at. If that doesn't make sense, then I'm out of explaining ability.