OK, so I am finally going to vent about racism. I had an experience last night and I just read kowtow's blog and he reminded me...
First off, here in my town there is a pretty good sized Guatemalan population. They were brought here by the Catholic churches of the area and tend to work in agricultural jobs here in this region. One of my best friends, who is from Mexico, works in the office of a school. She has seen her white coworker fall over backwards to help white kids if they have even the smallest cut or illness, while at the same time having a Guatemalan child stand there waiting for help, sometimes while bleeding.
My mom who also works for the school district brought this up to her supervisor. That person told my mom that it is so bad in the school district that there are teachers who openly call Guatemalan students in the high school "stupid" and complain that they cannot learn. She even said one teacher wouldn't help a Guatemalan student even if the student's life was on the line.
I teach English in a program called "UpperBound" that has me traveling to local schools. One English teacher had her class segregated by race. In another school I go to the students were telling me about the dress code. One Chicana told me she wore and outfit one day and her white friend wore the same thing, both breaking the dress code. The Chicana was sent home, but the other girl wasnt.
A while back I started dating this woman, who is 25yrs old, from here in town. She is white, but seemed to be pretty open minded. Well, we were talking over lunch about stuff and the subject came up of my dream to study literature in Mexico City. She made a snide remark and I baited her by saying "Why do you hate Mexicans?"
She replies "Really, do you want me to tell you?"
And of course I said "yes".
She takes a deep breath like she is going to say something really long, stops, looks at me and goes "Wait, are you part?"
I am like.. "Uhhh yeah, I am half Mexican American. Chicano."
She changed the subject. And the interesting part, we were in a Mexican restaurant owned by a family from Mexico with a waiter from Mexico. That didnt last long!
Then last night I am partying with a bunch of people. My best friend's girlfriend, she is 20, has made some extremely racist remarks at parties and we try to avoid her best we can. Towards the end of the party she just up and called one of my friends there a "Black bitch". It didn't end there, in a matter of five minutes she dropped all kinds of racially charged statements and the party ended.
I am basically venting. I am shocked that this attitude still exists, and especially that it is still there in younger generations because they have seen more diversity in sports, pop culture, and now even politics.
Ugh.
First off, here in my town there is a pretty good sized Guatemalan population. They were brought here by the Catholic churches of the area and tend to work in agricultural jobs here in this region. One of my best friends, who is from Mexico, works in the office of a school. She has seen her white coworker fall over backwards to help white kids if they have even the smallest cut or illness, while at the same time having a Guatemalan child stand there waiting for help, sometimes while bleeding.
My mom who also works for the school district brought this up to her supervisor. That person told my mom that it is so bad in the school district that there are teachers who openly call Guatemalan students in the high school "stupid" and complain that they cannot learn. She even said one teacher wouldn't help a Guatemalan student even if the student's life was on the line.
I teach English in a program called "UpperBound" that has me traveling to local schools. One English teacher had her class segregated by race. In another school I go to the students were telling me about the dress code. One Chicana told me she wore and outfit one day and her white friend wore the same thing, both breaking the dress code. The Chicana was sent home, but the other girl wasnt.
A while back I started dating this woman, who is 25yrs old, from here in town. She is white, but seemed to be pretty open minded. Well, we were talking over lunch about stuff and the subject came up of my dream to study literature in Mexico City. She made a snide remark and I baited her by saying "Why do you hate Mexicans?"
She replies "Really, do you want me to tell you?"
And of course I said "yes".
She takes a deep breath like she is going to say something really long, stops, looks at me and goes "Wait, are you part?"
I am like.. "Uhhh yeah, I am half Mexican American. Chicano."
She changed the subject. And the interesting part, we were in a Mexican restaurant owned by a family from Mexico with a waiter from Mexico. That didnt last long!
Then last night I am partying with a bunch of people. My best friend's girlfriend, she is 20, has made some extremely racist remarks at parties and we try to avoid her best we can. Towards the end of the party she just up and called one of my friends there a "Black bitch". It didn't end there, in a matter of five minutes she dropped all kinds of racially charged statements and the party ended.
I am basically venting. I am shocked that this attitude still exists, and especially that it is still there in younger generations because they have seen more diversity in sports, pop culture, and now even politics.
Ugh.
kowtow:
Stinky, I am constantly amazed at the ways people can find to be cruel. That area is a tough area because the white population is new out there, but they are the ones with the power. I grew up in southern NM and lived in northern NM for 4 years; my experience was that everybody hates everybody. And yet... I talk to more and more people that seem to be able to look past the bullshit. I don't know what to think of it.