View from the mountaintop remains clouded

A nurse at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Mich., has sued the hospital, alleging she was reassigned because of the color of her skin. /Image via rad.msufame.msu.edu


Newsflash: When a white supremacist tells you to do something that's blatantly racist, you shouldn't need a lawyer to tell you it's wrong.

As CNN reported today, a lawsuit against Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Mich., bears two of the hallmarks of racism in America: ingrained hatred and ignorance.

First the ingrained hatred: A man whose premature baby was being treated at Hurley Medical Center saw a black nurse attending to his child. He asked to see the nurse's supervisor and requested that no black nurses work with his baby. While making this request to the supervisor, the man flashed a tatoo with a "swastika of some kind."

Now the ignorance: The father's request went up the Hurley Medical Center chain of command and was granted. The black nurse's supervisor called her at home and told the woman she was being reassigned because the preemie's father didn't want black care givers working with his child. A note was placed prominently on the child's medical chart: "Please, no African-American nurses to care for ... baby per dad's request."

Hurley Medical Center's lawyer found out about the case, objected and the decision of hospital officials was reversed.

You would think this kind of event would be impossible more than 40 years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the last speech before his assassination. In that address, the civil rights legend said, "I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!"

King led America to the mountaintop, but for far too many of us the promised land is still miles away.