Marginalization, Stigma, Human Rights, and Privileges

00:06 Marginalization is another key word when we talk about, what brought us here? So going back to the structures when we talk about structural racism when we talk about ethnocentrism, when we talk about bias, we relegate people who we feel like are less than us to a place in society that they're unimportant, or we take away power.

00:26 Set power is another key word we're going to talk about a lot.

00:29 Because powerlessness perpetuates a whole lot of that marginalization and the people who are in power, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender.

00:42 People in power have the opportunity.

00:45 They use that power for good or for bad.

00:47 So if we use that power, and we're disadvantaging other people, that's bad.

00:52 Stigma is another one of those words.

00:55 Negative and unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something.

01:00 Stigma, a mark of disgrace.

01:02 Think about the scar.

01:04 Let letter write with a particular circumstance, quality, or person.

01:07 And when we think about that, if I disgraced someone forever, for whatever it is, and I'm going to use this as the first thing that came to my mind.

01:15 But I'm going to use when we label someone, a criminal.

01:19 A felon, or whatever.

01:21 Those are things that creates stigma.

01:23 There are people who are really good people, but got into a desperate situation.

01:28 And so they did something that may have been to save their lives, to save their kids lives, to save their family's life.

01:36 And then we labeled them as a criminal.

01:39 We don't allow a second chance, I guess, because we labeled someone as a criminal.

01:44 But people do deserve second chances.

01:47 And do I mean that about everybody? Absolutely not.

01:49 There are some people who just continue to commit crimes over, and over, and over again.

01:55 But I'm saying as a human being, every human being deserves the right to be understood and seen as a human first.

02:02 So why is all this important? Because I kind of alluded to it anyway.

02:06 In terms of health, optimal health is a human right and not a privilege.

02:10 Living peacefully in society is a human right and not a privilege.

02:15 And I'll tell you a story at this point when we talk about human rights and privileges.

02:20 So this story is about my dad, who is a retired Vietnam veteran.

02:25 And he lives in a retirement community, that's affluent.

02:29 He has nice course.

02:31 He is the only black person in that community and he has been harassed since he's been there.

02:37 This man is 75 years old, served this country, pays his bills, doesn't ask anybody for anything.

02:44 His car was vandalized.

02:46 When he first moved in, they weren't through with installing the elevators.

02:51 Somebody wrote, "Go home," in word, and drew a swastika.

02:57 Calls the cops there. They look at it, "Oh, there's not much we could do." Didn't want to call the FBI.

03:03 Has two parking spaces for his cars, both of which are luxury cars.

03:07 This man earned the right to have those cars, in my personal opinion.

03:11 One of those cars he parked in a handicapped spot.

03:15 He has a handicap placard.

03:17 People kept putting notes on his car threatening to get it towed away.

03:22 And so he had to call the United States Attorney General, in order for them to stop harassing him about this car.

03:30 The property manager says literally weekly, someone comes there and tries to find some reason to get him kicked out.

03:37 My whole point of that is, he has a right. He defended this country.

03:41 And now this country, those people in that area don't support him.

03:46 The police officers didn't support him.

03:48 He has been pulled over for being in a neighborhood in a nice car, because he's black.

03:54 You can't tell me why you pulled me over.

03:56 But why are you, what are you doing over here in the first place? So those are the kinds of things and the reasons why we're talking about that.

04:02 So this is not only personal to me from personal experience, but it's personal to me as a human advocate.

04:09 And when we become healthcare providers, we are legally, morally, and ethically obligated to support all human beings, which brings me to the humanitarian ethos, which is all about impartiality.

04:24 I absolutely love it.

04:25 I think that we all should subscribe to that.

04:29 It means that we operationalize those humanitarian principles, service, sympathy, compassion, trust, mercy, and my favorite one is respect for human life and dignity.

04:42 And I want to say that again, human life and dignity.

04:46 So when we let our biases get the best of us and how we treat people, imagine where your dignity goes.

04:53 And just knowing that human life refers to all people without stipulations, such as race, ethnicity, and all that.

05:01 See each other as humans first.

05:03 Does that mean I can't say the black lady, the white lady? No, you absolutely should say that because that is a part of the person's identity as long as you're not saying it in a discriminatory way.

05:14 But the first thing you need to see is a human.

05:17 And so what do I need to do to make that human being as a health care provider? What do I need to do to make that human being remain this sense of dignity? And then as we interact with everybody in life, what is my responsibility and making sure all people feel comfortable in this world?