It’s that time of year again, when we get to gather around and welcome the midwives of Nonnatus house back into our homes. Hearing the familiar into music makes me feel like I’m sitting down for a cuppa with a few of my friends and colleagues. Yet again, we see that the culture in Poplar in 1968 can share striking similarities with our current political climate. I’m not going to lie, it’s very disheartening to see that while we can make progress in some areas, there is still an abundance of hateful anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that often dominates our news cycle. It can take just a few choice politicians in a position of power to give a platform to xenophobia, therefore making others feel comfortable to also voice their hatred and prejudice openly.

It is truly eye opening to see the changes in people’s personalities once this dialogue becomes “acceptable.” I have “acceptable” in quotes, because it should not ever be acceptable, but having people in political power giving a platform to hatred has opened this door. Not only does it make people feel comfortable voicing their previously hidden prejudices, but it also spreads misinformation, which can sway public opinion. We saw this in the case of the Pickard family. Initially, they didn’t have any issues with Lucille as their midwife. She had even established great rapport with Mrs. Pickard. However, after Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech, the Pickard family clung to the idea that immigrants were the reason their family was struggling. When people are already having trouble making ends meet, it can be easier to blame something concrete, like immigrants taking the jobs, instead of an abstract idea like a recession or a lack of jobs in your trade. You could see that even Mrs. Pickard felt emboldened to snap at Lucille and at another woman in labor that she didn’t even know, just for being immigrants. We also know that “immigrants” is most often a blanket statement used for Black and Brown folks. I don’t think the Pickards had any issue with white immigrants, and even admitted that they had French heritage and their ancestors came to England 200 years ago when they chose a French name for their daughter.

As midwives, we care for women and birthing people from all walks of life. We care for people who are citizens of our countries and those who are not. We have the obligation to care for all pregnant people and ensure that they and their baby are safe, before we even ask them about whether or not they have health insurance. There is more open dialogue over our implicit biases, and we have to work to acknowledge them and learn to override them. I cannot imagine how it felt to be Lucille that day at the maternity home. She had already been struggling since her miscarriage, and being so far from her family likely added to her loneliness. She was homesick. Lucille has been no stranger to racism during her time in Poplar, but this insurgence of anti-immigrant speech and protests had come at a time when she was already longing for her family and the familiarity of the land she grew up in. It’s hard not to feel driven out by this openly expressed hatred.

Even before she walked out on Mrs. Pickard, I could see that Lucille was at her breaking point. Her mental health was suffering. While I don’t condone her walking out on a patient who is entering the second stage of labor, she did so knowing that there were other capable midwives in the building who could care for Mrs. Pickard. While I could never fully understand, I imagine that Lucille felt truly unsafe that day. That might seem a little silly considering she was not the one in labor and in need of medical attention, but what if something had gone wrong? Would Mrs. Pickard blame Lucille’s immigrant status on her or her baby’s outcome? Not to mention, no matter what, nurses and hospital staff should not have to take overt abuse from their patients. There is a fine line between abandoning her patient (which Sister Julienne had pointed out, would have been the case if she had left a woman who was laboring at home), versus leaving the patient to be cared for by another midwife in the maternity home. I don’t fault Lucille for making that decision.

Call the Midwife has never shied away from controversial topics. Things like racism, xenophobia, and homophobia were and unfortunately still are a part of our societies. It’s important to portray history accurately, and hopefully use the past to learn from our mistakes. I’m grateful that the writers on Call the Midwife have used our beloved characters to help put faces to ideas that might seem abstract to those of us who don’t experience these prejudices in our everyday lives.