Who is that woman?

It may seem unusual to know that the very thing I do daily as a career, 

I also go home and watch on a scripted television show. In my previous post, I described the contrast between the  dual   9-1-1 television shows, and how realistic they are in comparison to the real thing. Episode 2 of 9-1-1 Lone Star, titled "Yee Haw" had a scene where a woman called to report a fire from her neighbor’s yard. Once the source of the fire was revealed as an in-ground smoker for barbecue, slowly the story unfolded to reveal how she has disdain for the neighbor and not because of his actions but where he is from.

During their exchange, in front of the crew, the male neighbor proclaimed "The crazy lady called the police on us while we were having a birthday party for my daughter."

She replied, "Yeah because you were waving around bats."

"It was for the pinata!"

The argument neared an end and it was determined that she is prejudiced and wants her Mexican neighbor to be penalized. 

As the fire crew on scene listened to the neighbors’ argument, they made a citizen’s arrest against her for being a nuisance and making repeated unnecessary 9-1-1 calls. She was appalled at the fact that she was being arrested because as she put it, "I am an American citizen.”

In response to that, the fire captain told her, “then you should know the laws about making unnecessary calls.” She then claims to have chest pain and having a heart attack. So the crew agree they can't arrest her at the moment and the medic crew moves in to assist her, however a dilemma evolved from it all. This was due to the fact that the crew so conveniently comprised of a Muslim woman with a hijab, a black male who is transgender, and a gay man. When they tried to help her, she immediately declined help from the Muslim woman, and asked for one of the guys, and noting her prejudice, he told her he is gay. Her last choice was that of the black male and she made sure to say, “See, I’m not prejudiced!” He said he would help her but wanted her to know he was a transgender man. At that point, because of her prejudice, she opted for jail as her symptoms seemed to have disappeared.

Living in the United States of America, specifically in a large urban city, I am often reminded we are a melting pot. Growing up in a highly populated urban city, diversity has always been the norm for me and this made me more curious and gave me a desire to want to learn more about different cultures. Often times, some people who are not exposed refuse to know about other cultures and have the idea of "this is America, you should be more American." Well, in my personal world and as operator 43, it doesn't matter who you are, and who you're not. At the end of my 9-1-1 line, myself and my colleagues will treat you all the same. When the call to 9-1-1 is placed, oftentimes it is the worst day of the caller’s life. We all recognize this and it is our job to get help to you as well as aid you while help is on the way.

Attending the "I Am That Woman" 2020 prayer breakfast,
Los Angeles, California

Sometimes, it is not as simple as that, as we face many challenges, between callers not knowing where they are calling from and only having a general idea of the location, it can be a daunting task. Now, insert the occasional caller who instead of giving their address would rather call you names. I've been called racial and gender-based derogatory names as well as being told I was stupid or did not have enough empathy because I am too calm or asking I am too many questions. I have also been threatened by callers. I can't help but think about the irony in how they are threatening me yet they have no way to get to me and in reverse, they had given me their address. I however know that such backward thinking most times stems from sheer panic. I've learned from life and this career that some thinking, whether backward or forward, will never change.

As operator 43, I keep my opinions to myself while in the middle of the call. I know that regardless of if the caller is prejudiced or not, the call could be stemming from a life or death scenario. I will always choose life for my callers, so I ignore the prejudiced remarks they sometimes utter. In my city, there are over 200 languages spoken so we have a translator line which can access any language you can think of. I have learned many cultural differences just by living and visiting places around my city. However, there are times I am faced with things I am not prepared for nor will I ever be able to accept as my own thinking. Take the following conversation for example:

"Operator 43, what is your emergency?"

(Inaudible words)

"Sir?"
(Inaudible words)

"Sir, do you speak another language?"
(Inaudible words)

"Sir, I'm not able to understand you. Tell me the language you speak so I can get a translator."

"I would rather die before I let a woman help me!”

"Sir, please tell me your language so I can get you a translator."

(States language!)

"Okay sir, please hold on."

(Connects with language translator and request the language of the caller)

"Please hold for your language translator."

(Females voice) "I will be your language translator. "

"Sir I have the translator on the phone."
(Words spoken from man in foreign language)

translator: "Ma'am, he told me he does not want to speak to a, well, I can't say exactly what he said but he does not want to speak to a woman."

We both pleaded with him to get the information to send him help but he refused to allow us women to help him. Unfortunately, he was calling directly into the center, so I had no way of tracking him nor did I have a phone number to call him back with.

No matter what, the objective is always to get help to the caller. I never knew what his emergency was. The night went on and that was another caller, with another unknown outcome.

Next caller please.

Amazing women doing amazing things. Olympic Medalist
Tasha Danvers (left)