Kevin: An interesting little ancedote. Many years ago when my sons were little, one of them had bronchitis so seriously that we had to take him to the hospital and put him in an oxygen tent. While my wife of that time and I stood there, deeply concerned about our son, a young hispanic couple came in with their two or three year old son, who was in far worse shape than our son. The boy was terrified, and because of the congestion in his throat was barking like a wounded animal, unable to form words. The Nurse was Nurse Ratchet from One Flew Over Thew Cuckoos nest, and dragged the boy out of his Mother's arms and threw him down in the crib. This terrified the boy even more. and the parents were horrified. They didn't speak English, but they expressed their fear in their eyes. Finally, the nurse got the little boy strapped down so he couldn't try to climb out, and put the oxygen tent over him. I realize that she had to do something to contain him, but she did it in such a brutal way, with no thought for letting the parents calm there son down. And then she turned to me and made a fatal mistake. She said to me "I don't even know why they let them in the hospital." I was in a state of shock, and momentarily thought only of the terrified young boy. Our son seemed to be the picture of health, in comparison. Before we left, I got the name of the nurse. As it turned out, she was the head of the department.

When I got home, I wrote a letter on the letterhead of the Museum where I worked, using my title as Executive Director, and signing my name Gerald E. Rasmussen. It didn't hurt that the names of all the members of the Board of Directors were on the stationary. Of course, the Museum had nothing to do with my letter, but I wanted to use whatever influence I could. I described the experience in great detail, expressed my disgust at the way the child and parents were treated, and offered to appear in person to confront the nurse. A couple of weeks later, the hospital held a hearing in response to my letter, and the Head Nurse was fired. Someone I knew who worked at the hospital said that they'd been trying to fire her for years, but couldn't get solid enough evidence against her. My position and the Museum's in the community was strong enough that they fired her, without my ever appearing in front of them.

The perspective that I'd add to this would be to just as strongly go up against anyone who said, "The staff at that hospital are so prejudiced against Spanish-speaking people that they don't give them the same care as everyone else." I don't know what the percentage of good people is, Kevin. I'm an optomist, so I'd set it higher than a lot of people. What I do believe is that generalities are unjust. Fight discrimination and dishonesty. One person at a time. If there are three people out of ten who are prejudcied, fight them. Those who are not will appreciate you and do everything they can to back you up. Blanket them all as, "those people" or "That organization" and they will respond in the same way that Irish Travellers, or Puerto Ricans respond. Don't make generalities that judge groups of people. No matter who the group is. Go after the Bastards. The good people will be your strongest allies.

Jerry