In "Notes of a Native Son," James Baldwin describes his own experience with racism. He also describes the way that racism not only impacted, but infected his father, much like the tuberculosis that eventually killed him.
How about you-- when has race impacted your life? Describe an instance in which your ethnicity played a role. It can be negative, positive, explosive or extremely subtle. How do you know race was a factor? Were there words spoken? Or was this a moment where you read the subtext through intuition? Use dialogue, setting and characterization to make the scene as vivid as the one Baldwin describes. 200 words.
Although I am not proud to say this, I have had one personal case where I was the pusher of racism. Now, I would appreciate it if it could be understood that I was in fourth grade and really had no personal understanding of what exactly racism was. It wasn’t intentional in the sense that I had any sort of moral discontinuity pertaining to race, or color or creed; but I was naïve and I was immature and it was in the heat of the moment during a football game…
ReplyDeleteDuring a hot April day, with my blood boiling and the prospect of winning on the horizon I said something along the lines of “Come on Black Boy” to a fellow player on the opposing team. I wasn’t trying to be racist, I wasn’t trying to be ignorant or disrespectful, but in that moment I learned a lot about how things can be perceived. I wasn’t sure right away how he took what I said, but I think I got the message when we later got in trouble for pushing each other in the hallway. He notified the teacher that broke us up that I had made a comment about the color of his skin, and without hesitation I was on my way to the principal’s office. I had never been to upper management before; I was a pretty good kid in elementary school with only a few discipline tickets here and there for the odd ball of immaturity. And as I sat there listening to the speech about acceptance and understanding and moral appreciation, I began to better comprehend how race plays a role in society.
I grew up in a house of hippies, with the understanding that we are all truly created equal and nothing differentiates us as human beings. I ended up writing a heart-wrenching letter to the family apologizing for what I had done and trying desperately to show them that what had happened had nothing to do with me being a “racist”. I haven’t thought about this particular event in a long time, but the interesting thing about it all, the facet of understanding that I can now see as an older individual; is that this happened not because of racism, not because I was ignorant or an asshole, not because I had any dislike of the other person for any reason, but because I had no concept of racism. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it if somebody had called me a “White Boy”, it would have had no negative effect on my demeanor or my happiness, and due to that line of thinking I made a mistake. I believe we all have a period in our lives where we begin to recognize racism and for me, this was my moment.
The only time I can remember being a victim of racism was when I was seven years old. I moved here from Mexico and my English was a bit broken. I had to take special classes to help me better understand the language. In this special class, there was a blond girl named Megan. We immediately became best friends and were inseparable at school. One day, she asked me if I wanted to come play at her house and with the permission of both of your mothers, I went to go play at her house. Her mother was kind but every time she looked at me, it seemed like she was worried for some reason. About an hour after we were playing, Megan's dad came home and I immediately understood why her mother had been worried. As soon as he came home he began to ask why a dirty Mexican was playing with his daughter and that he wanted me to leave. He did this not knowing that I could hear everything and so I called my mom immediately and went home. Megan apologized to me for what happened but as it turns out we were not allowed to be friends anymore. This was the only time I have ever personally experienced racism but it was an experience I will never forget.
ReplyDeleteMy grandpa, on my mom's side is 92 and he was born in 1918, yeah I know that is really long ago, and he grew up in Indiana, and then moved to Kentucky, and this was a time that things were a lot different then what they are now. I will never forget this conversation with him, and he today still denies that he ever said such things but does acknowledge that he believes a African American and a "white," person dating or even married is in his eyes a little wrong. He still can't explain to me why he believes that, and I just really can't understand. But any who, he and I were chatting one night that I had to make dinner since my mom was still working late that night, I was about 16, I had just gotten my first boyfriend, he liked him, he said "he is a very nice white boy." I looked at him a little confused and I said, "Yes, he is nice, but why did you say white, along with nice?" He looked at me, straight in the eyes and said that he thought it was wrong for my mom to date my father, because he was Mexican and hoping that I never marry a Mexican or Black. Just because things didn’t work out with my dad and mom and she had to support two children while he went out ingesting many substances all day and all night. I was completely shocked, I am the product of them, and I am half-Hispanic! I grew up knowing both sides but I had never experienced this type of disgust for anyone especially by my grandfather, whom I live with and see every day. I told him, “You know, just to be in spite of you, I am going to date who ever I choose and marry whomever I please! I can’t believe you just told me for one, not to date someone like me, and two you just made yourself look like an a**hole for saying that I was ‘wrong,’ because my mom and dad were different.” I told him to not talk to me the rest of the night, silence kept him in his place and I really did learn the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
ReplyDelete-Rachelle Star
I remember growing up in a community where all of my peers were Hispanic. Just like me. The south of Tucson is where I grew up with my nana and tata. Life seemed simple back then. There was no hatred against each other and especially no racism found. When I was 12 years old my family and I moved to a bigger house in the west side of Tucson close to Marana. I saw many new faces that I was not familiar with. When I would go to school, my classroom was full of the majority being white students, I felt as though I did not belong. If there was such thing as being too Mexican I felt it. The funny thing is I do not even know much Spanish to have a whole conversation. As I became older I went to a school that was very diverse and much better than my middle school years. I did not feel targeted in racism until the SB1070 law. I felt like that law was very disrespectful to all Hispanics living in the United States legally. Even if some one was not from the U.S, it is not right to stereotype like what the law of SB1070 implied to.
ReplyDelete-Noelle Writer*
Freshman year is a time filled with fun and exciting memories, when you meet new and diverse individuals and you formulate new and strong opinions that remain with you for the rest of your life. Overly excited to be a college freshman, I spent my first month of college partying and trying to gain the supposed "freshman experience". During one of my party nights I encountered this guy who was a member of the frat house I was partying at and we instantly developed a connection. So we danced the entire night and hung out. Throughout the night, I never thought of him as the white guy I was dancing with, but rather as the guy I was interested in. Well the night took a disastrous and unpleasant turn when he whispered into my ears "you know I’ve never been with a black girl before so this kinda feels weird, plus my frat boys are making fun of me that I have acquired jungle fever". After listening to this i felt a rush of both relieve and disgust run through me. A part of me was relieved that he said that comment because now I understood his ignorance and while the other part was disgusted that he judged individuals based on their physical appearance. After this experience i realized that regardless of society’s efforts to become colorblind, we still classify and stereotype individuals based on their race and other physical attributes. Though this guy tried to become colorblind towards me, the issue of my race was just something he couldn’t still impacted his thoughts and feelings towards me. This experience bruised the light in which I viewed myself; I realized that no matter how hard I tried, I will always be viewed as "the black girl" not just Agnes and no matter how much i detested it, my race will still be as the major form of my identification.
ReplyDelete- Rebel Flower
Racism has been in my life for a while now, however the one that always surprised me as being rudly racist of them, is the racism i received in high school. The white kids from my school or the “true Americans” as they would say called me a wet bag, “beaner”, or their favorite remark "hey border-jumper". Yet, that wasn’t the surprising part of my life in high School I understand why they would say something like that, but the fact that i got singled out from the same people who also had those names thrown out at them. Strangely yeah, that was my dilemma the Mexicans from my own high school my own race were racist towards me not only that though they got my race wrong! They swore i was Arabian and called me Aladdin and or one of the men who tore down the twin towers. It frustrated me even more when they would make remark as to me having an accent, the very same accent as Apu the man in the Quickie mart from the lovable characters “The Simpsons” I never understood why they did that but i have been subjected to racism in the past.
ReplyDeleteI have experienced racism from time to time since I came to America for a better future, but the one that I remember the most was this one time in my freshman year of High school. I came to America at a young age and racism was a new thing to me because in my country, we don’t treat each other differently because of our skin color, simply because our skin colors are the same. So naturally, I didn’t pay attention to the way people treat me back then. My story took place in my English class when I was in 9th grade. One of my classmates named Carl. From the way he dresses and talk, I knew he was a conservative person. We knew each other through our manual friends but that’s about it. One day he shown up to the class and told everybody that he just passed his driver test and he got his license with him to prove it. I was curious and I wanted to see his driver license. He let everybody see it except me. Seeing the injustice, my friend Justin asked him why? He replied, “’Cuz he’s Asian, I don’t want him to steal my SSN.” I heard him and I thought hard, it just didn’t make any sense to me. As life goes on, I realized that it was a racist remark. I didn’t mind being call Asian, it’s his reasoning that I didn’t like.
ReplyDeleteMr.T
I was in the 8th grade when I was subjected to racism. I had this really great guy friend who was extremely nice and was always there for me. I knew he was the type of friend that I could depend on. We grew to like each other and eventually started dating. Months passed and we met each others parents. He spent more time around my family then I did his and my family loved him. However, when his family got to know me more they didn't like me because I could not speak Spanish. I can understand most of Spanish and I remember hearing his mom tell him in Spanish, "why would you want to be with a white girl." it hurt my feelings a lot to know that someone thought so poorly of me because of a language. She did not even stop to think of how great of a friend I was to her son and how I cared for him. We dated for about a year until she really did anything about it besides not letting me go to his house. She believed that he needed to be with, in her words, " a real Mexican girl" not a Mexican American. In her eyes I was a white girl and no good. It was not my fault that I wasn't taught Spanish as a child. My parents both know how to speak it but unfortunately didn't think it was a big deal back then to teach us. After some time his mother made him stop talking to me and they moved back to Mexico. The sad thing was that they had lived in the U.S. For almost 10 years and they didn't learn how to speak English. I don't understand why they judged me so bad. Till this day I am insecure about not speaking Spanish but I am still a Mexican and should not be disrespected because I wasn't taught Spanish.
ReplyDeleteTo me race hasn’t always impacted my life or at least it didn’t feel like it. I never understood much about race when I was younger to me everyone was the same but when I started learning about it in middle school I started noticing how some people treated others different even teachers. I am Hispanic girl who doesn’t speak Spanish and never has but to other people it looked like I did. But the only reason they thought that was because my color. My family never taught me Spanish but my nana used try but I never got the hang of it. Every time I was in a Spanish class I was always picked on first and I didn’t even understand what the teacher was saying. My classmates always think I am going to be the one to help than understand when the reality is I will not be the one to help them. I never liked the way people would look at me when I would admit that I didn’t speak Spanish. Other Hispanic people who speak Spanish used to treat me different because I didn’t know the language but I always tried not to let it bother me to much. Throughout my life I have heard people calling each other names depending on their color or the way they look and it just isn’t right. No one should be judge and everyone should be able be friends with each other no matter what your race is.
ReplyDelete-Jay C
Growing up in a small community where everyone in my small town next to the border of San Luis Mexico, I really never encountered any sort of racial discrimination. In middle school I moved to Yuma, which lets say it's Tucson and San Luis is Nogales or Rio Rico something like that. Well in middle I met people of other ethnicities but there I never felt discriminated against. It wasn't until high I heard comments from white people discriminate Mexicans. I'm the type of person that speaks my mind and don't let anyone insult me, my family, friends, and or other Hispanics. I really hated when people at my high school, which by the way was Catholic, would make really racist comments. I never let those comments affect me directly, but they always bothered me and really made me really angry. I would always get irritated with the people and would talk back to them. What I hated the most was when people that were half Mexican would say racist comments. That I just couldn't handle and I would tell them that they do not have the right to say that because that pretty much affects them too. Like I said before I never took those comments personally, but I would still get really mad, but I would also say something back. So far these have been the only times I can say I've experienced racism.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Tucson, my parents always enrolled me in bilingual schools so I would not lose my Spanish. Due to the fact that most of my classmates were Mexican, I never experienced a personal attack of racism at school. I was also never a victim of racism outside of school, which I think was partly because of my light skin color. However, I did acquaint myself with bigotry last year when the law SB 1070 passed. As a third-generation U.S. citizen, I have no fear that I will ever be deported. I also realize that most of the hatred is directed toward those that are living here illegally. Yet, it still hurts me when people make odious comments about undocumented Hispanics because they are my kin. We come from the same area, speak the same language and practice the same culture. It may not be directed at me, but the acrimony my family experiences passes on to me. Even worse then sensing animosity from another racial group, though, is to encounter the bigotry from someone of your own kind. A member of your family speaking to your brother or sister with such hateful words creates a great ache in your heart that eventually dulls, but never completely goes away. I wish that we could just learn to accept each other regardless of skin color or culture because above all we are humans and we have no other option but to live on Earth and make the best we can out of it.
ReplyDeleteOver the course of my life, my accomplishments have been overshadowed by my ethnicity and by the fact that I live on the south side of Tucson. Although I have never felt that racism has been inflicted on me because of me personally; a lot of the things I have gone through have been because of stereotypical behavior from others.
ReplyDeleteDuring my life I have taken the most difficult and challenging school courses (honors, advanced placement, etc.) but because of where my public schools were located many seemed to discredit my hard work because of the fact that the south side of Tucson has a reputation of being full of violence, corruption, and mediocre schools.
Being a minority and living on the "bad" side of Tucson has caused a lot of dissatisfying situations for me. The most recent was just a few months ago. While having a conversation with a female student here at the UofA we both shared our goals and the fact that we were both from Tucson. We quickly connected and a friendship surely seemed to be established; however once I told her the name of my high school her facial expression was undoubtedly a shocked one. She made me feel very uncomfortable with her comments that belittled my side of town and the high school I had so proudly graduated from.
I think everyone has experienced racism in some shape or form. It seems that every race has a certain demeaning word used to refer to them. In my case, I feel my family and I have been discriminated against various times because of our race. There are six people in my family and we are usually visited by relatives often. So when we go somehwhere as a family the car gets pretty full. We have been pulled over by the Border Patral far too many times. My father once asked why we got pulled over and the officer simply said that our car looked a bit too full. To me, this is not a legitimate reason to pull someone over. I feel that we are victims of racial profiling. At school there were also cases in where classmates would refer to me as a “border hopper” or a “beaner”. I never got offended by it because it was just playful banter, but it does count as racism in a way.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, I have never experienced racial discrimination personally. This is pretty ironic considering that I am the perfect candidate for discrimination because I am tri-racial. I am black, white, and Mexican, therefore there is a lot of material to use against me. However, I have witnessed discrimination from afar many times. My boyfriend, Donovan, told me a story in which he was a victim of racial discrimination, and it stuck with me.
ReplyDeleteIt was about eight at night and Donovan was working in the Proshop at Fiddlesticks. This is where the customers can go to rent equipment for mini-golf, and batting cages.
"Yo yo yo what's up homie? Lemme get a medium bucket of golf balls dog!", exclaims the customer.
"Excuse me sir?" replied Donovan.
After realizing that he made a mistake, the customer politely said "Oh.....can I please have a medium bucket of golf balls?"
"Absolutely, one second while I grab those for you," Donovan answered.
In an attempt to redeem himself, the customer then went on to explain that he was a firefighter, and gave a descriptive account of all the good deeds he had done throughout his lifetime. It is a bizarre situation to ponder if you know Donovan because he is a very proper, and professional person. People often associate proper English with speaking white, and anytime speech deviates from proper English it is considered speaking the minority way. So, when the customer walked into the shop and observed that Donovan was black, he immediately switched to improper English, which was clearly out of the norm for him, to accommodate Donovan. It is crazy to see how race plays a role on how we act in front of certain people.
-Spec!al K
Growing up in a small town with mostly whites, was somewhat hard and educational. I do remember when I was a child in elementary school I was either the only African American student or there was just a few more. I grew up in Muncie, IN, a small town (much smaller than Tucson). I never really understood why people looked at me funny when I played with the other white children. Until one night when me and my mother saw KKK members walking down a street not that far from my house. That night she told me about racism and how blacks use to live before we were freed. This didn't change my opinion on the whites, it just helped me understand my culture more. I am proud of who I am and where I live. I know racism isn't as big as it use to be but racist people are still out there. And when I am the only black person in a college class, I know that some blacks still have it hard or just don't feel the need to further their education.
ReplyDelete-Lacree Freesia
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ReplyDeleteIn my life racism has always been prevalent because I lived in an urban neighborhood but the most shocking events that occurred was in 8th grade. When I transferred to a school where 98% of the school was black. I grew up in Detroit were most of the people I knew were black. I was comfortable being in the school except when a student said me that "you look white, why are you here? shouldn't you be at a suburban school?" It was weird because I never experienced racist remarks from black's. At lunch, the 8th grade class wouldn't let me sit with them because I didn't look black and I had green eyes. Apparently I wasn't considered black. It was the strangest thing because I am black, both my parents and grandparents are black. I felt so out of place where I thought I would be comfortable without racism. I had experienced racism before but 8th grade year was the only time I was truly hurt.
ReplyDeleteMy spiritual big sister took me to church her last Sunday. There aren't very many members in this church so a few members volunteer their homes to hold meetings. As expected, I was meeting with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that were Caucasian. Before the 15 of us got together to discuss matters of God, the pastor introduced me to everyone in a friendly manner and shared my membership in the Pride of Arizona and plans to studying chemical engineering. After the service, members socialized among each other and many came to welcome me; I conversed longer with the woman whose house we were meeting in. As we were talking about marching band, she proudly shared her son's musical abilities and plans to also become an engineer. The fact that she pointed out her pride in them made it seem as if she was being defensive and not casually connecting with a young visitor in her home. After a pause in our conversation, the woman with deep bends and wrinkles around her eyes looked into my eyes and said: "So chemical engineering... you sure you can do that?" She sounded as if she were asking a paralytic if they were sure they could hike Mount Everest. The older lady had just revealed her assurance that her white male children could pursue an engineering degree when they entered college. What could lead her to ask me this question? I was reminded about my race as soon as this statement registered in my head, but I worked to ignore what she had implied. I smiled and nodded, sharing with her an eased confidence in the field I chose to pursue.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger my soft personality, intelligence and interests led black people around me especially in school to congregate away from me. Because of this, I found acceptance in Caucasians and Hispanics and take up common interests and activities that they do. Because of the social abandonment I feel happened with numerous black groups in my life and reoccurring incidents when my Caucasian and Hispanic friends point out the fact that I am black, I don't believe I have a racial identity. As a result, when situations like my conversation with this women happen, I don't take them very defensively. It just appears to me that people are ignorant and don't understand who I am.
So racism has occurred for me through the years. School has been hard for me to get through. Mainly my junior year of high school. I went to a mostly Mormon school in Chandler, AZ. There were not that many African American on the campus. So in all my classes I was always the only one that was African American. I always felt awkward because I would stand out by being the only one. My junior year I took AP English and tried my hardest to do my best. Everything I turned in I got a horrible grade back. Even when I worked on a project with a non African American person I got the worst grade even though we had the same information. My mom had to let me know sadly that my teacher was most likely racist. That disappointed me more because I would try my hardest and not get the grade I deserved. Racism has gone on so long that it needs to stop. I respect you and who you are so I believe I deserve the same respect no matter what race and/or I look like on the outside. When I first see people look at me like they never have seen an African American person I try not to get offended. It is hard because you know that they have sometime in their lifetime. I wish racism could be put behind us forever. LET'S STOP RACISM!!!
ReplyDeleteI come from a tiny little town in the south. Chase City, Virginia. A place where subtle discrimination peppers the lives of those darker than the rest. Believe it or not, yes discrimination still exists. Race has played a crucial role in my life whether it be a help or hindrance. However, my life has been surround by a confusing combination of white and black. My Grandfather was a white man with eyes as blue as the ocean. I am a black boy with eyes as brown as dirt. There was a time when I envied my grandfather's pale skin and crystal eyes. I saw how people would treat him slightly better than those with darker skin like me and my mom. Subtle things like helping him first when we went to a restaurant or treating him politely when we would stay at a hotel. At first it seemed harmless but as I grew and my common sense took root, I realized the difference. Yet my grandfather was a kind and loving man but anytime we were seen together, it was as though I was misfit. How could a white man have a black grandson? I will never forget my most shocking experience. Me and my grandpa had gone to the local grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner with my grandma who is also black. There we were with this white man marching down the isles as boldly as we saw fit when the manager made his appearance. When he saw our odd little family he looked cross, confused even. "Excuse me sir" he said in his southern thick accent "Who, may I ask, are these lovely... folk accompanying you?" When my grandfather heard this he replied proudly, "My family." We left immediately never to return there. Luckily we moved from there about the time I was 9. We moved to northern Virginia and the discrimination we faced diminished. I didn't let that one experience mold the way that I thought of whites or any other race for that matter. However, I did learn to be proud of your origins whatever they may be. Be proud because your family is family no matter what color, creed, or religion.
ReplyDelete-M.J. Clyde
I never experienced racism until my junior year of high-school. I was in a trig class and there were only two black people in the class including me and I was sitting with a group of boys who i have known since freshman year. they were known as the funny guys so I enjoyed hanging out with him and plus I was dating on of those guys in the group. So that day we were hanging out and one of the boys said "look at that "nigger" she is soooo dark, what is in her hair!" pointing to the other black girl in the class who had braids and was darker complected than me....and they began to laugh as if i wasn't there...I looked at the guy who said it with anger and confusion...saying "what did you just say?" and the boy told me not be angry because i'm not really black??? I asked him how wasnt I black...He said because i talk correctly, my hair is long and straight,I dressed like the other girls in school and I was lighter than the girl. I was truly in shock and offended.
ReplyDeleteThere are many moments within my life of which I have experienced racism. I will discuss two of them. When I first came into this country from Africa, I had a pretty thick accent to go along with my dark skin. My family was huge and as new immigrants, we couldn't afford a house so we lived in a small apartment complex during our first few years in America. Living in that apartment complex was probably one of the worst experiences of my young life and coming from a poverty war stricken country, that is saying a lot. The two little girls who lived next door to me also were in my First grade class and they helped to make my years at that complex and in school a nightmare. They would make fun of the way in which I spoke, my traditional African clothing, my hair and especially the color of my skin. The torture would start at school and continue at home. These girls with their lighter skin tone and straight brown hair turned most of the fellow students on me. Being the ONLY "black kid" in the class didn't help my case at all since most of my fellow students had not been exposed to such ethnicity before. In hopes of escaping the tormenting, I begged my mom to buy me new clothes. I begged her to take the braids out of my hair. I begged to be a part of a new culture to be a few shades lighter, to be accepted. Looking back now I can't believe that such animosity could have been prevalent among a group of 6-8 year olds. Another more recent encounter with racism I have experienced came this summer when I was working with oddly enough a Social Justice group. Our job was to go around door to door registering people to vote. I had the misfortune of being placed with one of the leaders brother who had just flew in from Washington. He was new to the job so I decided that I would speak about registering to the first few people who answered the doors, in hopes that after a while he would get a hang of our rehearsed script. After knocking on a few doors, that the guy I was working with made a comment about how well spoken I was for a black person. He also had the audacity to ask if I smoked weed and ran track. I had no words for his racial stereotyping. I was literally in shock. This type of crap happens all the time, which makes me doubt that there is any hope at all.
ReplyDelete-Salami
Throughout my life I have never really have had bad experiences with my race. Although people have took the wrong impression of me just because of my race and somewhat on where I live. Simply me having a small conversation with someone I never met before it’s easy to tell that they don’t expect to have high expectation for me because of my race. The way I have come to figure this is when they ask me “What do I plan to do with my life?” And I tell them I am attending the University of Arizona and what exactly I want to gain from the University. After answering their question and seeing their surprised expression on their face it’s easy to tell that they didn’t see that coming at all. I knew my race was a factor because if I was white and not from the south side they would already expect me to be doing the normal thing like going to and now just getting a job straight out of high school. It doesn’t feel good when people don’t expect high things from you because of your race and where you live, but it feels great to prove people wrong and be successful no matter where you’re from or your race.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up I have not encountered many situations with racism. But one specific time that stands out to me was when I was a junior in high School taking my SAT test. I lived in a minority area where there was majority African Americans and Mexicans; I had to take my test up north where the population there was Caucasian people. As being a victim of racism, I was confronted with being picked at and talked about by my appearance of having “Nappy hair”. As I was sitting in that classroom I noticed I was the only African -American in that class so I took those insults very offensive. But I was not that much angry by them because who were they to judge me of my appearance, but I knew that I had to just stay in that class room for 3 hours and do what I came to do and finish my test and not let such words distract me. I did not exchange words back with the blue eyed, pale pigment students because I believe if you ignore someone they soon will be quiet, and I also learned that you shouldn’t let people get to you because we all are unique in our own special way that God created us. By being a humble person I overcame that disturbing situation and went on about my day.
ReplyDeleteI once experienced a moment of racism not to long ago. It was actually right here at the U of A at my first semester English class. I am not sure if that moment was really intentionally, but under the circumstances I totally felt this rejection from some classmates. I am part Mexican because of my parents, and for that reason I sometimes speaks with my Mexican accent. So the thing is that every time the teacher called on me and asked a question in front of the class, I replied and some of my classmates stared at me with this awkward face expressions. So I did not know what to think, therefore I just ignored it. Though it did make me feel a little bit uncomfortable. The fact that I was one of the three Mexicans in the whole class made me feel even more weird , but anyhow I did not pay attention to it. Now that I think about it, I should of said something. Yeah!! Something that made them feel ashamed, but what?..Well who knows, I think that's probably why I just decided to ignore it. Anyways at the end of the course I never knew if they hated me or my Mexican accent...haha
ReplyDeleteWell i have experienced some racism in my life time. When I go to a store the people keep an eye on me becuase I am a young Mexican male. They might try to hide it but I can notice it when they treat me different from lets say a white male around my age as well. Probably the biggest racism that I have encountered was when I was in high school and my teacher called me "Jose". When I told her my name was not jose she replied by saying "sorry I call all my students Jose". Growing up and going to school at least 80 percent of my classmates were Mexican. So thats why probably my teacher said that she calls everyone Jose. Now at the University where it's alot different from my high school where im no longer a majority, i am now considered a minority.
ReplyDeleteI think that we have all experienced racism in some time of our lives even though we don’t consider it that. For me, in particularly, racism's came to my life in my childhood. There was a girl that would always bother me, whether it was time for class or any where she would see me, she would not miss the opportunity to humiliate me. You could say that because of her now I’m shy. She would call me names, maybe this seems more like bulling but every time she saw me she would call me a Mexican giraffe. When she said that to me it would always hurt because I am really tall and it has always made me uncomfortable. This all happened to me when I was in elementary school and at that time I didn’t quiet now what racism was. One time I asked this girl why was she so mean to me and she just said that she did it because she wanted to and because I was nothing in life. I believe that if I had had less confidence in me those words would have broken me. That day I told her that if she ever said anything to me that was not either an apology or school related I didn’t want for her to speak with me. I think that she saw my face pretty serious that she did what I had asked her. Racism’s comes in different situations and in different way that we sometimes don’t detect them. We should not let other people minimize us just because of our color or race or religion.
ReplyDelete-huesos
Racism exists all over the place. I’m sure everyone has either experienced it or seen it with their own eyes. For the first time in my life I experienced racism when I began to look for my first job. I began to ask for applications at stores near my house. One of them was subway. I walked in and there was a line of people waiting to get helped. I stood in line even though I wasn't eating, all I needed was an application. When It was my turn I asked the American lady "are you guys hiring by any chance"? She looked at me as if she didn't hear what I had said. I repeated my self and finally understood me. She called over her manager; tall, light skin, blue eyes. With his deep voice he asked "Can I help you with something?". Again I repeated myself, “are you guys hiring?”. He said "no we're not hiring". I walked away and the girl behind me looked as if she was my age, blond and tall. She asked him the same question and responded “yes we are hiring would you like an application?”. I just walked out not saying anything. You never know when someone will judge you physically or by race. I talked to one of my close family members and they told me that, that will happen a couple times throughout your life, no need to hold anger in yourself or put yourself down for something that happens to others occasionally.
ReplyDelete-Gilbert
I've experienced racism in a somewhat odd way in elementary school. During my first years of elementary school, I had an English as a Second Language (ESL) class. In my class was a girl from Africa who spoke French. We soon became close friends despite neither of us having a good understanding of the English language. Because we were also in the same first grade class, we would always spend time with each other during class and recces. However, when we would play during recces, a group of African American girls would constantly try to separate us. For example, if we were playing on the jungle-gym they would come over and lead my friend away from me and towards the swing set. They wouldn't talk to her or acknowledge her most of the time, but every time she would leave them and head in my direction they would run after her. Whenever either of us would ask them why we couldn't hang out with each other, they would ignore our question. I think that this situation is interesting because it shows that racism can go in both directions. Often, we hear about whites acting in a racist manners towards African Americans or Latinos, but I think that racism can also be African Americans and/or Latinos can also act racist towards whites even as children.
ReplyDelete- vivusz
One of the most racist things that has happened to me was when i was in high school. I remember the class doing its usual routine, which consisted of a writing warm-up describing what topic we had chosen for the group project we had been assigned a few weeks back. Then out of no where, two kids that i was sitting by started having very inappropriate conversations about guns, violence, drugs etc. Mr. Swearingen, the teacher at the time gave me a horrible look, and yelled at me to stop talking. I looked at him side-ways and told him that I wasn't talking and pointed to the two boys that were laughing hysterically and said that they were the ones that were talking not me. He then moved me to the front of the room by his desk. When the boys started talking again, the teacher still accused me of talking. All of my class mates tried many times to tell explain to him that I wasn't the one that had been talking. Mr. Swearingen grabbed me out of my chair and shoved me out in the hallway and said "When ever you are finished acting like an innocent slave you can come in". At that moment i had been in complete shock so i walked to the office and called my mom and explained to her everything that had been going on. My mom didn't come at the moment, but by the time i had gotten out of school she was in the office waiting to blow the situation out of proportion.
ReplyDelete-Turbo
I am not sure if this falls under the same racism as you wanted o discuss but I feel as though this was the time where I felt discriminated. growing up I was usually surrounded by black people whether it be family or friends. One day of my freshmen yr. in highschool this girl was telling a story. She was telling of how she had hurt herself. But she didn't say those exact words. Instead she used the phrase "got broke". now I was confused by that and she said you don't know what that is? I said no. then she had the nerve to say "YOU NOT BLACK". It seems as though people have this stereotype of black people. the most common being they don't speak correctly or they are loud and aggressive. I was truly hurt by this statement because obviously I am black. I eat soul food and everything lol. But I found this a form of racism because the were judging how I should talk because of the color of my skin. This isn't fair at all. I also believe this is the worst form of racism. Just because I choose to talk correctly doesn't mean I am less black than the next. This is the worst form of racism because it came from someone who was my color. It hurts to know that your own race can discriminate against you when you don't fall into the specific criteria or stereotype of your race.... smh
ReplyDelete-meeshelay
Well, there was this one time where I was with a group of friends a the mall. My friends and I all happened to be African American. We all were walking in a group shopping and talking. Things seemed to be going really great until we entered the Coach store. As soon as we entered the store the sales associates came to the front and lingered. They also kept asking if we were going to purchase something. Upon entering I did intend on purchasing necklace but their actions and behavior in the store turned me off. I hate when people do that. But hey, thats life right?
ReplyDelete-B.O.M.B.
I've moved to America in 2006, therefore in my opinion this country has been a lot better in term of racism, but thats just me. I've lived on the west coast, specifically San Diego, Ca; it is mostly populated by Asians therefore I fit right in the picture. Although as I started going to school, i've realized that people of a particular race stick together and play within themselves. I've tried to play on a basketball game during gym with a bunch of white kids, but I got rejected, i don't think its because of my race but maybe it is. I've started learning more and more about that people and the history of this country, I've made more friends and became extremely comfortable. I've started developing a trait that im not very proud of, i've stereotype most people that I meet in a racial. I use racial terms against my friends as a joke but I think i need to be careful before they get mad.
ReplyDelete- Manila06
I have experienced racism on numerous occasions throughout my life. However, one instance that remains with me was about a year ago. My friend and I were going to a concert at the Rialto Theater in downtown. We ate at subway and still had a long time before the doors were about to open. We were trying to decide whether to walk around more before we were going to line up. We decided to go into a clothing store. As soon as we entered, a clerk asked us if we had backpacks, and we needed to leave them at the entrance. We simply replied no and then he continued to say that there could not be more than two people with us. Since it was just me and my friend, we were allowed to stay inside. I thought it was weird being questioned like that as soon as we walked in but I just decided to brush it off. We started to walk around the store as I heard one of the employees say to another “You better watch them; you know how those ones are.” I decided to ignore his ignorant comment and continued looking at shoes. I noticed that one of the employees was following us and making gestures to his co-workers. My friend and I just left because it was an awkward situation and frustrating that the employees at the store were judging me and my friend based on our skin color. We had no intention of stealing anything. People are always going to be judgemental, however you can choose to be angered by it or rise above it.
ReplyDelete-ACM
It is sad and truly disappointing to know that even to this point in society, there is still racism. People tend to discriminate not only against race, but religion, gender preference, and social status as well and I think many of us, if not all, have at some point experienced this negative reaction. I think the most recent one for me was walking into a store, and I was with my dad who speaks very little english, we were having a conversation in spanish and I recall two of the salespeople saying "stupid beaners, they don't even know what they want". My dad didn't catch it, but when I heard them my blood heated up and I filled up with anger, when it was time to pay, I answered them in English and they were surprised at the fact that I spoke their language. I told them that I had heard them, and just because I look Mexican doesn't mean I don't speak English. I felt the need to stand up for myself and my father, I didn't complain to their manager because he looked very ashamed when I brought it to his attention, but I let them know that it was not okay for them to discriminate against anyone like that. Its only a matter of watching what you say, and being polite. The color of our skin does not make us any better, or give us any right to discriminate against others. Which is why I admire people who have stood up for what's right.
ReplyDelete-Grizzly
Being born in the beautiful coastal city of Izmir, Turkey has shaped the person I am today. Though I am not a particularly religious person, being raised in Turkey meant I was Muslim.
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved to Phoenix, Arizona, I didn't really have any real confrontations about my religion. However, on 9/11, social acceptance went down the drain, and ignorant claims about the religion of Islam and people who follow it were running rampant. I was in 4th grade when the terrorist attacks occurred, and about a week after, certain kids started teasing me about if I was going to "blow up the school". See I am not one who gets offended easily. Hell, I'd go as far as saying I never get offended. I'm generally a sarcastic person who shrugs things off. This time however, was different. I thought about the homes in which these kids were raised. I thought about hateful families who targeted over a billion followers of a religion, and labeled them as terrorists. Basically I thought about people who voted for Bush. So after a game of basketball during recess, where I kept hearing these awful comments, I, like James Baldwin, lost my cool and punched a kid and was going after another one when the teacher aids broke it up. Luckily, the principal was a cool-headed guy who just sent me home for the day and told me to talk to him if anyone continues to say hateful things.
That's the most blatant racial experience where I was the target. Not looking too foreign usually keeps me out of trouble, I guess I've just assimilated.
Alp Yazirdag
Color seems to be something huge that everyone worries about. Myths are stupidities that I find myself hearing when it has to come to what my grandmother has to say. There are many sayings of the same thing as Mexican girls and ladies are to marry a white man. "For they bring money to the house and are born with money." My grandmother always wanted one her daughters to marry a white man. She was proud with some that actually did, but as for two other ones she has complained of her son-in-laws. For my mother she was married to my father. He was a Mexican born in Nogales. In the eyes of my grandmother she saw him as a man who had no class and no money. He was not well for my mom and to the thoughts of one of my uncles who are white, said to my father, "You'll never be able to satisfy your kids and wife. For you have no education and have no class." My mother never agreed with my grandmother and was very disappointed, but as well as embarrassed of her own mother. One of my mother's sisters, my aunts recently got married. My grandmother came back to her judgmental skills especially because my uncle is African American. There was conflict between my aunt and my grandmother. There were at times before their marriage that they did not speak because my grandmother had not respected people. No matter what color or the position that people were in. I was torn when I kept seeing the conflicts through what my grandmother did. I was embarrassed to say that I have seen racism occur in my family, but as for my parents, sisters, and I seem to not judge for color, looks, size, or anything but for the personality a person has.
ReplyDeleteAn experience that I go through at times is for the color I carry. I may look white just because my skin is light. For my sisters and parents are of soft colored I am the only white looking one in my family. There are at times that I am asked of why there is such difference in me than my family members especially my sisters. I have been judged to be American. When I hear people say they want to be white, want to be light colored, I wish the opposite. I wish to be dark. - Diana Raquel Garcia
So, I being of the African American race have been treating at times fine and other times I wasn't sure. I used to work at Harkins and there were very few African Americans working there. I can say there were about six out of the eighty employees. As each week passed there was one getting fired. Until I was the last one. I realized this and the managers started to pick on me. As managers they think that they can belittle anyone they want. I wasn't having it and blurted "it is because I am black right?" They looked at me and I explained the whole situation and what they have done in the past and they still wrote me up for saying that. At the same time though I think they received the hint because then there were more African Americans being hired. I was pretty satisfied and then I left. It was pretty hard working there because I am a very quiet and shy person. I just don't say anything until something really really bugs me.
ReplyDelete--Taku
I have not really experienced much in the aspect of racism up until i came to the US.
ReplyDeleteI came to the US in hopes to start college at the University of Arizona. Before then I was living in Nigeria, where i am from, and we are all of the same color. But i used to hear about racism on TV and read them in articles but i had never experienced it until i came to the US. I boarded my flight from Nigeria straight to Paris where i was supposed to connect to Salt Lake city from. On getting to Salt Lake city i was in the line as well as a few other Nigerians, and we where all in the immigration line. As the line moved i just noticed a particular trend. I noticed that the officers, who where white, asked all the black people to go stand aside and wait for the rest of the line to be attended to while we waited to be searched. I felt like sinking into the ground , but in the same token i had nothing to be scared of because i was clean i i made sure that i proved to them that because we where black did not mean that we were not all from the same race, the Human race.
- FresshDWizzy
It was a typical sunny day in Tucson. It had been four years since I moved here from South Korea. I was having a normal school day with my usual friends. Then the bell rang and I went to the plaza where we usually eat lunch. Up to this date I don’t know why it was going to be a cool day and why I decided to wear a sweater when it was actually hot. As I was sitting on a green bench trying to avoid the UVB from the sun, we started discussing colleges we want to go to since it was that period of time where everyone was stressed out and extremely sensitive about this topic. One of my friends asked me where I applied. I told them I wanted go to New York University but I didn’t apply because I couldn’t afford to go there and that I applied to University of Arizona and Arizona State University. Then my friend Ian asked me, “why not California schools? There are so many Asians there. I’m going there! You should go. Wait, since you’re Asian, I guess it would be more difficult for you to get into the California schools, I bet. Because they are all smart and gifted with their brains.” Until Ian told me that, I never thought universities decide students’ acceptance to their schools depending on their ethnicity. Then I researched and learned that there are many cases where certain races didn’t get accepted to universities for the better diversity. The diversity resulted from a racism slap my face hard and made me think how it is ironic how some universities present themselves for being diverse from rejecting certain races although a person who belongs to that ethnicity has a better academic background.
ReplyDeleteBeing of white descent, I feel that I haven't truly felt a moment of racism directed towards me. But, I have definitely been mistaken for being Mexican because of the color of my skin. That in itself is stereotyping. People think that because I am tan and live in Arizona then I must be Mexican. I have been called beaner and spick and I am not even Mexican!!! I have definitely felt the hate that most minorities feel every single day. It feels terrible to be judged by your heritage and not looked at as just a normal human being.
ReplyDeleteOn a calm day as you suspect nothing would go wrong, I began to feel a trembling feeling of fear as I realized something would go awry. I walk from crowd to crowd undetected, but feel the presence of an evil eye gazing on my back. I speed up my pace, but still feel the glare. I start to walk through numerous crowds, and notice I am not invisible anymore! When I stop and gaze around at the looks drawn towards me, I feel unsafe. As a car passes by and yells words from which my ancestors were called, I began to feel hurt, struggle, misunderstood-but I know that they do not understand what I feel, so I blow it off and continue my search for the place I was destined to go!
ReplyDelete