I'm tired of the 'run-of-the-mill' racists whom I encounter daily... [View all]

[PCIntern]

I'm referring to those individuals, for example, who responded to the questions about Martin/Zimmerman with the 'obligatory' "Of COURSE he should have gotten off" as though Zimmerman were the Henry Fonda character in Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man". Or who speak disparagingly of the President in that sideways, indistinct-yet-purposeful manner by way of implying that somehow his election and re-election was an accident of nature, like the duck-billed platypus. Or those who punctuate sentences with 'you know who I'm talking about' with that narrowed stare meant to convey the understanding among Caucasians that the Others are at the Gates and we need to tacitly acknowledge their encroachment upon our 'civilized' society.

Some civilized.

Yesterday, my extreme RWer couple came in: I only have a few Tea Partiers but these two make them look like George McGovern and Bella Abzug. A former military man, the gentleman informed me that the country is going Communist. I no longer respond in an engaging fashion, I simply say "Gee, I sure hope not. How are your teeth treating you?" He still thinks I'm a sympathetic-to-his-cause guy, a fellow-traveler as it were (he wouldn't use that phrase in a complimentary fashion), but can't verbalize because of my profession and the fact that 2/3 of my practice is African-American. At least.

But as I stated in the subject line, I'm just getting tired of hearing the same crap spewing form the same people. All that phony sanctimony and holier-than-thou testimony when their own houses are not just out of order, they're collapsing in toto, but of course, you can't point this out to them, because their own issues are, of course, different, than those of the "Others". It's just boring to hear this stuff over and over and when they speak this way, they act as though they've discovered great insights and that you are privileged to hear their philosophy as though they were William F. Buckley or Arnold Toynbee. Enoch Powell is more like it, quite frankly.

I have one black employee. She's been with me for 23 years and works chairside so one can argue that I've spent more time with he than with anyone else in my lifetime, right? I mean even if I were married for 40 years, I wouldn't have that much contact with my spouse, eight hours a day continuous five to six days weekly, right? We play a little game with the assholes. When they want to tell me about their deepest-held beliefs, they drop their voices way down, and if I'm feeling frisky, I'll look up and call the assistant over. I takes her about 10 seconds to come to the chair and during that time, the eyes widen, the breaths become shallow, and fear begins to rise. "Could you please get me one of those wide matrix bands and some fluoride varnish, please?" The patient clearly believed that I was going to repeat what he or she had said to the assistant. And I just stare at them. Interestingly, they tend to stop with that stuff, because after they leave, they realize that I deliberately tweaked them. Nothing that they could point to or tell anyone about: all I did was ask for some supplies, but they get it, for the most part.
Sometimes, one of the patients will want to tell me about something they left off, or someone with whom they've spoke, and if it's my assistant, and the patient is Caucasian, they'll hem and haw and then say, "I left it/spoke to the black lady...you know." I look at them quizzically, and say, "Who?" and they'll say, "your chair side assistant." And I'll reply, "Oh...is she black?" When she comes into the room, I'll ask her, "Are you black?" And she smiles and says "Yes." (Fully understanding what's been going on in the room while she was out) and I'll turn to the patient and shrug my shoulders and say, "Hadn't noticed. Now where was I". It leaves them flabbergasted every time.

But the racists, they still bore the Hell out of me.