Choctaw Nation Poteau Health Clinic
A non-Native registered Nurse employed by the Choctaw Nation Health Clinic in Poteau, Oklahoma is under fire for anti-Native comments made on social media.
Jill White Snapchatted the following on her way to work at the 2018 Choctaw Nation Labor Day Weekend Festival. It spread like wildfire amongst Native Americans on Facebook:
“My fake smile. Excited to go make sure a bunch of fat natives don’t stroke out playing softball. With no shoes or shirts on.”
White’s friends have to come to her defense enmasse on Facebook.
Chance Menasco wrote a public post branding the person who screenshotted and shared Whites incendiary Snapchat comments a “coward” and claimed it was just “a joke between a select group of people”.
Another of White’s friends claimed to be married to a Choctaw and have Choctaw Children in a reply to her own public offering. Shaunda Prock Noah asserted that Snapchat isn’t like other social media platforms because one can be selective in who sees one’s posts. She insists that White is a “good person” who simply “made a mistake.”
Menasco’s and Prock Noah’s posts seem to have either been deleted or made private after much disagreement in the replies. Additionally, there are reports that Facebook posts containing the screenshot are being deleted from timelines by the organization.
ICT Contributor Martie Simmons, a citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation, shared the screenshot on Twitter with concerns about how cultural insensitivity goes hand-in-hand with medical racism.
“Jill White an RN at the Choctaw Nation Clinic in Poteau, OK. You don’t deserve to work for the @choctawnationOK with this sick mentality. How could you give your patients proper care? #NativeTwitter.
“Every chart she ever touched, every medication she ever gave out, every interaction she has ever had would need to be reviewed for bias. She is dangerous in that type of position with those views. It’s terrifying to think about.”
There are claims that Jillian White has been fired. Neither the clinic nor Choctaw Nation tribal authorities have verified her employment status as of publication.
Indian Country Today has reached out to Choctaw Nation authorities for comment.
Follow ICT Correspondent Lisa J. Ellwood on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/IconicImagery.
