This I Believe
I am not my body. The color of my skin, length of my hair, or flatness of my stomach do not define me. I am my thoughts, words, and actions; I am my choices. When we are born, we are forced into our bodies for the rest of our lives. Therefore, it astonishes me when society has the audacity to diminish me based on my physical features. My body merely behaves as a container for the real me that is inside of it. This container that was forced upon me should be my armor considering it protects and secures me. However, it has become a confinement. Inevitably, society imprisons me at the sight of my slightly darker skin. Society sees these diversities and immediately shoves a label down my throat, forcing me to swallow it and allow it to consume me until I accept it. Additionally, we are programmed to judge each other solely on these ignorant labels. Why do we criticize each other for our physical features and disparities? Why do we allow others to
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The most recent was the time when my aunt, mother, and I went to an Olive Garden together. We were seated in the far corner of the restaurant where two lights had blown out and windows were absent. Crumbs were left on our table from the previous customers, and the atmosphere was distinctively inhospitable. Naively, I assumed this was only poor service and I did not ponder upon this seating arrangement. Not until I began examining the customers around us, did I recognize this as a form of discrimination. An African-American family, two gay couples, another Hispanic family, and an Indian couple accompanied us. At this realization, I recalled noticing only white families in the more elegant section of the restaurant on our long journey to the back. Several of these white families entered and left before our food even arrived. Clearly, we were not the server’s priority. To say the least, our waiter did not receive a
Race has shaped our world greatly, as we have slowly learned that just because someone’s skin is darker does not mean they are any less of a person. For example, Rosa Parks was one of the first black people to stand up for themselves. Black people were told to sit at the back of the bus but Rosa did not follow these rules. She was asked to move but she did not give up her seat, that was closer to the front. She taught us that just because she is black does not mean she deserves less respect. Another example is, Hate Crimes.in 1989 a law was passed that added the black community to hate crimes, which means that if someone hurt them because of the colour of their skin there will be severe consequences. This was passed to show that the government
My Race is Caucasian. My Ethnicity is a German- American. My father was adopted from southern Germany at age of two, into an Italian military family. My mother’s parents came from southern Germany, after world War two. I grew up going to a German afterschool program, where I learned the German language and culture. I am able to speak, write, and understand a fair amount of German. I also danced and was part of a German-Bavarian club until age 12. My sex is female. I believe that my social class would be upper middle class, however, on the lower side of upper middle class. I technically live in Mount Kisco NY, however I went to Chappaqua schools. I spent all of my time in Mount Kisco, my best friend in high school, also was not from Chappaqua
Racial reconciliation can be defined as the bringing together of different races; or in other words, embracing diversity. The value of it in my life is immeasurable. I have been extremely blessed to grow up in a time and culture where I personally don’t experience much racism; where I am not held back from pursuing my dreams and passions just because of the color of my skin. It is absolutely crazy to think that if I was born sixty or seventy years ago, my life would be completely different just for the sheer fact that I’m Asian.
I was born into a multicultural environment that allowed me to understand new perspectives and the world around me. At the start of my life, I was born into a poor Mexican family with no hope insight for a future that we could start anew. Through this, I learned humility, an understanding that no matter who we are or how we started, we can become so much more than we were before. By the time I was 5, my father and mother, poor illegal immigrants, had created an empire for themselves from the basis of a flower shop, and just like Andrew Carnegie, they became inspirations for many poor Mexicans back in my hometown of Cuernavaca, and icons for myself. Their newfound riches provided me with ambition, a new understanding into the importance of
It wasn’t a typical birth. I wasn’t a typical child. And it wasn’t a typical experience. Every day felt like an endless list of obstacles waiting to pounce on the life that I just wished was normal. From the doctors performing an emergency C-section to retrieve me to being diagnosed as asthmatic, from having eating difficulties to constantly being told I was underweight, I felt like a burden to everyone around me. If I wasn’t at the doctor’s office, waiting for the doctor to repeat over and over again on how I was under the growth charts, then I was probably puking in some car on the way home. If I wasn’t inhaling medicinal mists from a nebulizer every night to pacify my wheezing, I was most likely at the pharmacy, getting my new batch of a
My first recollection of race was daycare. I remember seeing many different skin and eye colors but didn’t understand how they were so much more different than me. I recall asking my mother why I didn’t have green eyes and how my skin color was different. She explained everyone is made differently that’s what makes them unique. My first recollection of racism was in third grade. The nurse came to the classroom to check the classroom for lice. Myself and a few other classmates weren’t checked properly because she didn’t want to touch our hair. Instead of bringing us out individually she called us by a group which made me feel different. Also, I was told it’s impossible to get lice because of the hair products used.
“Boom”!! Immediately my parents came upstairs like they were going to go run a race, and like they were going to win.They saw my door opened. My sister came to my room with her phone, and says” should i call the doctor, or should I call 911, or wait should I go get your phone and call the doctor”. “Go get my phone, and call the doctor as quick as possible” dad reply after hearing my sister Brooklyn talk a lot. And then, they heard someone knocking on the door and that was the doctor so Brooklyn opened the door, and while she was opening the door they tried to wake me up by calling my name a millions of times.But, wait I think you want to listen to the whole story.
I am a 17 year old Hispanic female who was born in Denver, Co. I now live in the northern part of Denver. I attend an Apostolic church and participate in many of their activities.
Racial Inequality Situation : A black man in jail thinking about the unfair society I had a pencil the year I came to jail It wore out in a week from writing Penning down my thoughts for all I can Crying in the jail cell counting the bars I sat down on the cold floor with many scars I was all alone No family, no friends, separated from home
I’d like to say I’m a very unique person. Not because of my hair, the way I dress, or how I look, but because of the unique things I bring with the person I am. All my life I’ve been the minority. From my preschool, to my church, my elementary and high school. Being black is something I embrace. I love my melanin skin tone, my nappy hair and I love teaching others about being a young black educated women. It hasn’t always been like that though. For majority of my life I use to try and fit in with the crowd. I use to always wear my hair straight so I could look like the girl standing next to me. My natural hair was beautiful too my mom and everyone else around me, but I felt like I had to step up and wear my hair straight everyday just to feel
I have this fear of being demoted because the way I look. I’m in a constant battle with the questions, am I white or am I mexican? I have an identity crisis on my hands, and growing up those questions weren’t any of my concerns. During the duration of my experiences involving race I have been placed into stereotypes that deceive who I really am. I would look too “mexican” to wear that outfit or I would sound too “white” to learn Spanish. Racial categories are both confusing and senseless, yet is a significant part in our society.
Truth to be told: I don’t particularly pay attention to national events or issues. My family is also incapable of comprehending national issues, especially my parents who do not have any level of proficiency in English. My family lives in a world where we go with the flow, but there are issues that I contemplate whether or not I should be involved in, particularly race inequality. Considering the amount of tension between policemen and African-American around the nation, the race to equal treatment is still ongoing.
London's grey, unpleasant land had erupted into a fiery storm of resentment, as the downtrodden urban class filled the streets. Within 48 hours of the Mark Duggan’s death, riots spread through the streets like wildfire. The brutal murder had caused already high tensions between police and black community to spiral into chaos. I watched as the city that I had loved, and grown up in; crumble around me.
I sometimes like to believe I am normal. I am just a girl with the usual silly crushes, singing talents, and artistic interests. But there is one thing that supposedly separates me from the majority of what we call society. I was born color blind. Not the kind where you miss out on a few colors or have some difficulty finding variance. To me, colors were nonexistent. I never genuinely thought much of it because, well, I had been used to it for almost 14 years. When people would make remarks about the beautiful sky or my charming olive eyes, I felt abnormal like I was almost missing out on something important. But I choose not to focus on that, but focus on the horrible, I mean “interesting” day ahead of me. My first day at a new school in the
It was a normal Friday, or so I thought. I was playing with my grandma’s friendliest pit bull when out of the blue he bit me. I yelled at him for biting me, but I felt a tingle in my arm. I laid down to rest, not knowing that it was no normal bit, and I was going to have an extremely long Saturday ahead.