Unseen Racism: A Latina Student's Struggle

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“‘Most of the racism in schools today is not born out of intense hate and does not come from this place of wanting the worst for students of color,” [...] It’s subtle.’” explained Jarrod Schwartz. Racism has become a part of our everyday lives, and it goes by unnoticed and unacknowledged on a day to day basis. Being the victim of unintentional racism, I know how it affects one emotionally and makes one question their own identity. Growing up, my ultimate goal has always been to attend a great university. So I worked for my grades. I did my homework. I strived to be successful. It never occurred to me that my peers assumed that since I am Latina, I am not capable of obtaining good grades. For some reason, whenever that topic was brought up among my friends, it was always a shocker. When people told me “Oh you have good grades?” or “You’re smart for a …show more content…

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Calpurnia is able to read, but other African-American folks are not. During that time period, it was common for black individuals to be uneducated, but even so, “‘It was Miss Maudie Atkinson’s aunt, old Miss Buford’” that taught Calpurnia her letters (Lee 165) Many made the assumption that since Calpurnia was African American, she was illiterate. This demonstrates how you can disregard stereotypes and focus on your own success, and not others opinions. Some may say that these comments are jokes and meant to be taken lightly, but it is actually “a terrible back-handed compliment that suggests that my education and success mean I am not "really" part of an ethnic minority, which highlights how well I've done but dismisses my self-identification and deeply insults my people.” (Blanco) When you notice someone being unintentionally racist it affects you just as much as it would if someone made a blatantly racist comment, because although the racism is veiled, the message is still

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