Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Racism - It's Alive and Well

Vol Fan visited our doctor yesterday to allow him to check on the status of the stones.

[Stone Update: Apparently, Vol Fan had a bunch of stones and only the big ones were worth mentioning by the cat scan tech or he only had two big stones which his body is breaking apart because as of 6pm last night, he has passed 10!!!]

Anyway, while we were waiting, a lady came in for a flu shot. She was probably 65 to 70. As we sat in the waiting room, she started chatting. As the conversation progressed, somehow we got on the subject of finding good doctors.

Her son had moved to Mount Juliet, Tennessee which is about an hour north of us. Once there, he needed to find a dentist. So he opened the telephone book, found an ad he liked, and called for an appointment. When he arrived for his appointment and was seated in the chair, the doctor walked in.

It was at this point that she leaned in close and covered her mouth as if she was telling me something shameful.

She said, "And wouldn't you know...that doctor was black!" And she started laughing like that was just the funniest thing ever.

I didn't know how to react. I just tried to pry my jaw off of the floor. But I realized that racism is alive and well.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lord...I can only imagine. I would have probably not tried very hard to bite my tongue.
TEN stones? jeebus! I passed ONE this morning! Thank you! I almost passed out...I cant imagine ten.

Desert Survivor said...

I wouldn't have known what to say either. Yikes.

Good luck to Vol Fan, I hope it's all over soon!

Big Hair Envy said...

Wait. What century is this??? I thought that the human race had evolved a little more. Silly me!

Poor Vol Fan! I hope he will feel better soon:)

Anonymous said...

Mmm. I think the fault lies with the upbringing. A woman of seventy-odd might just have caught the edge of the prejudiced generation.

My Mum used to be bad. I remember as a child walking with her in London (England) - I was about six, maybe younger, and there weren't that many black people there at that time. I saw a little black girl walking with her mother and said to Mum 'Look, Mum! Isn't she pretty?' and Mum muttered under her breath 'Oh they're alright when they're young ... '

The good news is that she did change as she got older and is now much less prejudiced. Some people never do. And some never see what's wrong with it.

Very sad.

An Asian doctor is going to be repairing my shoulder next month and I don't think I could be in better hands. Colour of skin isn't important. It's the skill that matters.