Random Thoughts

 “I like to call people by the wrong name to remind them how unimportant they are''. A line uttered by the stone-faced and snarky character, Ron Swanson on the TV comedy Parks and Rec. Although comical in context to the show, this line, and Burghadt’s vignette of the chief of staff versus the moderator in their power struggle/ implicit bias over the simplicity of mispronouncing a name, reminds me of how much I see this happen to my cultural client’s almost weekly. What’s in a name? A lot. An identity to someone who has come to the USA with virtually nothing left that is theirs. For an already marginalized population, let's make them feel worse by not taking the time to pronounce a name or recognize someone as they are. The same can be said for individuals that are referred to as, “those people'' or “them”. It is painful to hear providers, regardless of how long they have worked with someone, continuously call clients/ patients by the wrong name, mistake them for someone else/someone else’s case, or continuously refer to them in the wrong pronouns. Only to have it pointed out and have them say “Oh yeah, I knew that”. The other painful thing I hear from providers/staff/personnel, “I know I’m going to butcher your name, but”. Simply ask. It is so easy to make someone feel “less than” with MAYBE accident bias and create a power hierarchy that does not need to be present. I’ve seen the white fragility that comes from providers/people being corrected and thinking the one doing the correcting is “being rude”.  I feel in my case management position, a way to promote small change in this type of situation is to continuously stand up for the population I work with by correcting others and teaching my clients to regain their power by being OK with correcting others and standing up for themselves.  

Reflecting on one of the exercises from chapter 7 in the Burgardt text, I reflected back on a time I may have seen or experienced explicit bias/power struggle/ cultural bias in the workplace or on a team. I am ashamed of the example that comes to mind and I need to eat some humble pie. Before I knew about implicit bias, I was one of those people who explained, “I'm not racist, I love everyone”. Typical. However, my example paints a different picture. When I worked for an old case management organization, part of the hiring process was to interview with the whole team. One day, we were interviewing three different people at our team meeting. Two white women and a Somali woman. I bet you can tell which ones I thought would be hired. Luckily, all three were hired and all three had great skills to bring to the team and did wonderful work. I was the A-hole. I can confidently say I've grown a lot since that moment and am more aware of bias/ cultural bias. Recently, in my internship, one of my coworkers was experiencing the increased racism, bias, and power struggle from a client that was not getting what she felt like she needed and deserved. My coworker is black and the client is white. The client said a lot of slurs and threatened to trash the worker on social media. This work is hard. Relationships with others and working relationships are important. Teamwork is important. Knowing ourselves is important. Acknowledging our own stuff is important.

On an unrelated note. I enjoyed how the Hassan book ended. I feel like I finally understand social labs and have a concrete understanding of how they work and the best ingredients to make a good social lab. I’d almost be interested in being in one someday. Also, the comparison of mine canaries and the marginalized people we work with will stay with me for a very long time.