Being Politically Correct, PC, or "Nice"

I'm not sure if it's the state of Oklahoma, the Midwest, or if this is the norm in workplaces across the country...people have to jump through hoops to be politically correct. My position at practicum this summer (where I'm working should probably not be mentioned since I do not want to get anyone in trouble) has allowed me to attend all kinds of different events in all parts of Oklahoma City, however it has mostly been focused in NE OKC. While fashioning my beautiful learning agreement for my summer program I discussed how the department I'm working in was going to be involved in OKC Pride. Under normal circumstances no big deal, I assumed since I was working there and part of my position was to help with Pride that the department condoned the activity. My supervisor however circled that section and informed me that I needed to change the department name to an inner department name (a coalition name) whose funding we'll be using and whose name we will be operating under. Apparently higher ups in the department would kill our presence at Pride if they had access to it. Really? I was blown away. I'm doing my practicum in the health field, a field concerned with making everyone healthy and safe but they would pull the plug on participation in an outreach event because of who we were reaching out to? Since when is health political?

I attended a coalition meeting yesterday composed of concerned citizens and organization heads located in Northeast Oklahoma City. The meeting itself was meant to be a kind of networking session, a way for all organizations in NE OKC to share their events and even establish partnerships for future programs. I was told the meetings are usually low key and good places to learn about future community events. A woman walked in,10 minutes late, wearing white cut-off shorts, a big straw hat, and had a shorter, meaner looking woman bring up the rear. The woman sat down and at first seemed like she was just another concerned citizen interested in future events. However once the floor was opened up for organizations to speak she took over. She was running for district commissioner and was "concerned" abut things she saw going on in NE OKlahoma City. She talked about drugs, drop-outs, and a lack of swimming pools (I didn't really see the significance there). She monopolized the meeting and then before the rest of the organizations could speak she got up and said, as if she was being kind, "I wont take up anymore of your time." Thank god for the coalition head, he told her to take a seat. If she was going to attend a meeting then she was going to hear all of it. Why does politics always interfere when good things are happening? Why did this woman feel the need to interrupt a meeting of involved community members to harangue them for not doing enough?

Last night I was surfing channels and I came across the film "12 Angry Men". I had to read the play in high school and enjoyed it. It has a strong message and I think it's very relevant. However this wasn't the 12 Angry Men I remembered from high school, the one with Henry Fonda and the table of white men trying to put a young African American in prison for a crime he didn't commit. This version had a jury of African American men trying to put a young hispanic boy in prison for a crime he didn't commit. I know the film has a message, I know it is a message of essentially "don't judge a book by its cover or an individual by their color". But why do people need to recreate the film to preach the same message and further promote a hierarchy of ancestry?

In the department I'm in there is an outreach coordinator. She's incredible, has networking in the blood. She's African American and wonderful at relating to the NE Oklahoma Community. She has improved department outreach in that area exponentially, I'm learning so much just by watching her work. In the department we have several members of the LGBT community. Because of them the department is developing a presence in the LGBT part of town. We don't have members of the hispanic community, we don't have much outreach there...how is that fair? We need to stop representing the familiar and getting to know what we don't understand. Cause if people in the health field wont do it, who will?