Racism is a rather difficult subject for me to bring up. I am not racist, but I am a white guy. The cliche that some of my best friends are black is true in my case. My step-daughter is mixed and I love her just the same. Now, having said all that, what the hell has our nation become?
As I have stated before, I am a disabled vet. As such, I regularly need to be seen at the VA hospital. The closest VA with adequate facilities/specialists for my specific injuries is the Manhattan VA. My last appointment was on Thursday the 26th, and the racism in that place is getting terrible. I first started going there back in early 2009, and from the start I felt a tinge of it. Each time I’ve been there, it felt a little bit worse. I thought I might be imagining it, but this time it was undeniable… or I’m really just that paranoid?
Anyway, I get to the specialists check in desk and there are two people sitting there (both black). The male is checking someone in and the female is just sitting there. She looks at me as I start towards her and points to the guy. OK. So as I’m standing there waiting for the guy I’m watching her and she’s doing nothing. Nothing on the computer. No patients. Nothing. Then some black guy walks in and gets in line behind me and she calls him over to check him in. Strike 1 this time (this is the same woman that has been giving me attitude for 3 years, but I’ve been ignoring it).
So, I finally get checked in and the nurses do the preliminary stuff (vitals, etc), no hints of racism from them (of course they were all asian, the only people displaying racism were black). I get called back to see the specialist, we talk about what’s going on, he sends me for some x-rays. I get to the desk there to check in and get checked in. While I’m sitting there waiting, a black guy comes out of the back (he’s one of the techs). The woman that checked me in says “he’s here for you” and they both look at me, he says something to her that I didn’t hear, they both laugh and he goes in the back. 10 minutes later he comes out again and calls one of the black patients that got checked in after me (he was not an emergent case). The same tech comes out several minutes later and gets the other black guy that checked in after me. Finally, after I’d been sitting there for 25 minutes or so another tech comes out and gets me (this guy was Italian). The x-rays I needed took all of 5 minutes, but the black tech was apparently too busy for me.
So, I get done with that, go back down to the specialist and finish my exam and treatment (I finally got the shot I was supposed to get last year, that wasn’t racism, that was standard VA bureaucracy). The Dr. tells me to come back in 3 months to see if it worked, so I go to check out. The black woman ignores me again so I go to the guy. Wait for him to finish with the patient in front of me and then hand him the paper. He looks at it, says “3 months, you’ll get a letter” and drops the paper. OK, fine, that was kinda rude and I’ve never been given a follow-up appointment like that, but whatever.
So I go down to get my travel voucher. After waiting for the people in front of me to finish I get to the window. There’s nobody in line behind me. The 3 black people in the room ignore me while talking about personal shit for about 5 minutes. Finally, the one furthest from the window looks at me and asks what I’m there for. I say I need a voucher and he says that the cashier is closed at 3:30. I said that I see the sign, but you’re supposed to do the voucher the day of your appointment, and since it’s over 150 miles for me to get here, I’m not leaving without it. He puts me in the computer and says, “oh, yeah, you qualify”. It took everything in me not to snap at him. I’ve been through this shit before, but after being ignored for hours by the people that are supposed to speed the process up, I’m kinda pissed off by this point. So, he fills it out and says I’ll receive a check in about two weeks.
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I’m trying to figure out how to file a formal complaint.

I realize that racism against blacks does happen. I realize that slavery was a huge problem in this country. I also know that I am not racist and have never been a slave owner. My parents and grandparents never owned slaves. This shit pisses me off.

Now, after I’ve said all that, do you think that race isn’t going to play a part in the upcoming activities? I may not be racist, but when the opponent is, does it make any difference?