I was at a free flu shot clinic recently when I had the most amazing thing happen. I was mingling with the crowd, announcing that free flu shots were available, asking people if they'd had theirs yet. I approached one young man, African American, and asked him if he'd has his yet this year. He said "no" and asked me a question about the shot, and before I could answer it, his girlfriend (presumably?) said, and I am not joking here, "Oh no! Uh-uh! Don't you take dey medicine, you ain't gots no idea whats in it. They says its good for you? Remember that's what they told the Indians." WTF??? Just further proof ignorance is alive and well, and knows no race, color, or education level boundries. These were college students......I think we all know about the blankets with small pox. No one can deny the horrible
outcome of the US's brutal policy towards the native inhabitants of this land. This exchange however, reveals the real danger in a sophomoric level of knowledge. These kids know just enough to categorize everything in their world into narrowly defined stereotypes. This WILL NOT work out well in the end I think. I guess it's all just one great big conspiracy. And that makes me The Man I guess. *sigh*
2 comments:
Injuns, huh? she's a darkie, you'd think she'd go Tuskegee Experiment on your ass for passing out flu shots; after all that was only like 30, 40 yrs ago.
In case you didn't somehow go over that one in nursing school (which I can't imagine you didn't,) that's where they let black syphilis patients in Alabama go untreated, and told them they were fine...it was also rumored they injected patients with syphilis for study purposes.
That's had the darkies going for years, about people like you.
Complaining about injuns and small pox is a new one...but hey, I guess it's cultural interest of a sort...
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/jul/tuskegee/
I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing
Post a Comment