Carlita Logan

St. Louis, MO

I think the message that I want to give—just to reiterate—is I think if each individual would take a moment to step outside of their comfort zone, and you can do that in a lot of ways like Sister said—sister said you can be in a coffee shop and say “Hi” to a stranger and say anything to spark up a conversation, or you can pay it forward like you’re in a coffee shop, you can step up and say “Let me buy that cup of coffee for you.”…Those are really simple things to do, but it opens up the world to other people. It slowly lets people into your world. Then they let you into their world. Another big way to do it is, many people have your faith, be you Jewish, be your Christian, be you Muslim, and if you step outside of your comfort zone and consider visiting another church, learning about another faith. It doesn’t mean that you have to convert; it just means you want to learn a little more about other people. I think we get to know people through their faith. I think that’s really important. We get to find out how much we have in common, rather than how different we are.

I think the way I have experienced divides in my life is that, being a person of color, I have experienced overt racism. Being a professional nurse, I have experienced the assumptions of my being “lack,” being “less than” because I am a person of color. An example of that is, I’ve had people walk up to me, even though I have a badge on that says “Carlita Logan RN,” I’ve had people walk up to me and say “Could you get me a nurse?” I get that. I’ve had people in management assume that I know less. I think the biggest divide that I’ve experienced is I’ve seen how people who are white, people of non-color, can walk the street and get a job. The assumption is when they get that job, that they’re qualified for that job, that they know how to do their job. I can walk, or other people of color can walk, into a place of employment and get the job, but, for me, I had to reprove every day that I didn’t forget the knowledge that I had attained the night before.