Georgia nurse says patient kept on asking where she was from. Suddenly she realized what was going on: ‘I didn’t come from Africa’

A Georgia nurse said a patient would not stop asking where she was from, even after she gave the same answer more than once. Alisha, who posts on TikTok as @therealrnbarbie, told the story in a selfie-style video while walking a brightly lit hospital hallway in dark blue scrubs and a gold necklace with a photo pendant.

She said the patient asked where she was from, and she answered, “Georgia.” Alisha said the patient then asked, “No, where are you from originally?” and she again said Georgia. She stated that the patient followed with, “No, like how did you get here?”

Alisha said she answered, “Well, my mom and dad had sex. She went to South Fulton Hospital and gave birth to me.” She said the patient then asked, “Well, you were born in Georgia?” and she replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

The nurse implies the patient didn’t believe that she is an American

Alisha looked into the camera and said, “There’s still racism alive.” She added, “Because we originate from everywhere, ma’am. I didn’t come from Africa, ’cause I know that’s what you’re asking me.”

She did not name the patient in the video. She also did not say which unit the exchange happened in, or when it took place. The clip presents the story as her own account of what the patient asked and how she answered.

Alisha framed the follow-up questions as something other than a request for her birthplace. She said she believed the patient was asking whether she had come from Africa, and she said she had not. She kept the reply to the patient short and then explained that reading to the camera.

Viewers later left comments about questions they said they also get about where they are from. One person wrote that they give a fixed reply in those moments. They wrote, “I tell them I was born in Mexico and came here illegally!!! All the time.”

Another commenter described work with patients who have memory loss. They wrote, “I work with dementia patients and they forget everything else but that N word.” For nurses of color, the trouble doesn’t stop at patients’ words, as one Black ICU nurse was pulled from her patients after a coworker’s complaint.

A third commenter said a last name often leads to the same kind of question. They wrote, “I have a unique last name so people always ask me where is my last name from. I respond, from the slave master.” Questions about where nurses are from can carry extra weight, as a Colorado Black ICU nurse who was arrested over a patient’s death later sued her hospital for racial discrimination.