In his famous “I Have a Dream” Speech, Dr. Martin Luther King stated, “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred” on regarding how to deal with racism in America. Having more class than your opponent and keeping ones dignity is still possible when pursuing equality, though it may not always be easy. Judith Ortiz Cofer tells in her essay, “The Myth of the Latin Woman”, what it is like growing up a Puerto Rican woman in white America, also that one does not need violence or cruelty to overcome racism and stereotypes or to gain equality. Americas tend to be closed minded. If anything is odd or unfamiliar to them, it is rejected. The average American simply does not grasp a decent perspective, especially when talking about trying to understands other’s cultures. Instead of looking at someone’s customs from their cultures standpoint and viewing, it is almost always interpreted in an entirely different context. Cofer would find that when she spoke with certain people, and they heard her accent, they assumed she could only be an uneducated domestic. Growing up, she also realized that what she wore could also be a problem. What is normal to wear in Puerto Rice, like wearing bright colors or something that was semi revealing, is looked on as inappropriate or a come on in American culture (Ortiz- Cofer 93). On a similar note, James Baldwin was not given the chance to prove he was a dignified and educated young man, as he tells in... ... middle of paper ... ...says out of that whole day, she remembers that moment the most vivid. She likes remembering the stereotypes that are out there, they are what she has to overcome. Which gives her a great sense of pride, since she is one of the ones breaking them (96- 97). Works Cited Baldwin, James. “Notes of a Native Son.” Cohen 50- 70. Cohen, Samuel, ed. 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford- St.Martin. 2011. Print. King Jr., Martin Luther. “I Have a Dream” Speech. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm. Intellectual Properties Management: Georgia. Web. Ortiz- Cofer, Judith. “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria.” Cohen 91- 97.
Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream has said to have been fulfilled. However, others claim that the dream has only been taken at face value, thus, misunderstood. In John McWhorter’s article, “Black People Should Stop Expecting White America to ‘Wake Up’ to Racism,” he refers to past and recent events to establish the difference between society’s fantasy and the misinterpreted Dream of Dr. King.
The backlash that Sotomayor experiences because of her decision to apply to and her acceptance into Princeton reveals how most Puerto Ricans experienced forms of racialization, or racial classification, by Caucasian Americans. Sotomayor experiences the culmination of years of racial discrimination and oppression when her school nurse asks with an “accusatory tone” and a “baleful gaze” how she got a “likely” and the “two top-ranking girls in the school only got a ‘possible’” (Sotomayor 102). She expects Sotomayor to experience “shame” under her gaze because he...
Judith Ortiz Cofer, a cultural writer and storyteller, illustrates the stereotypes depicted through gender and race, most notable in her works such as Silent Dancing and The Latin Deli: Prose and Poetry with use of Spanish to create the authenticity within her works.
Figueredo, Maria L. "The Legend of La Llorona: Excavating and (Re) Interpreting the Archetype of the Creative/Fertile Feminine Force", Latin American Narratives and Cultural Identity, 2004 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York. pp232-243.
Over the past few decades, research on women has gained new momentum and a great deal of attention. Susan Socolow’s book, The Women of Colonial Latin America, is a well-organized and clear introduction to the roles and experiences of women in colonial Latin America. Socolow explicitly states that her aim is to examine the roles and social regulations of masculinity and femininity, and study the confines, and variability, of the feminine experience, while maintaining that sex was the determining factor in status. She traces womanly experience from indigenous society up to the enlightenment reforms of the 18th century. Socolow concentrates on the diverse culture created by the Europeans coming into Latin America, the native women, and African slaves that were imported into the area. Her book does not argue that women were victimized or empowered in the culture and time they lived in. Socolow specifies that she does her best to avoid judgment of women’s circumstances using a modern viewpoint, but rather attempts to study and understand colonial Latin American women in their own time.
The myth that “all men are equal” has created false hopes for the people of color, who continually seek opportunities to excel, that just aren’t there. They have been led to believe that intelligence and ambitions are key contributors to one’s success. Even if they do possess ambition and intelligence, the dominant majority of the white population oppresses them. This type of oppression points out that new methods of struggle are needed, such as whose employed by Martin Luther King, Jr., Franz Fanon and W.E.B. Du Bois.
The Women of Colonial Latin America serves as a highly digestible and useful synthesis of the diverse life experiences of women in colonial Latin America while situating those experiences in a global context. Throughout, Socolow mediates the issue between the incoherence of independent facts and the ambiguity of over-generalization by illustrating both the restrictions to female behavior and the wide array of behavior within those restrictions. Readers of varied backgrounds will come away with a much deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities that defined the lives of the diverse women of the New World ruled by Portugal and
Rosa Parks said, “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” Racism has troubled people for hundreds of years and has not solved. It seems as a chameleon; people may hardly to detect it, but it not means it does not exist. As Mary Mebane states in her article, “The Back Of The Bus”, she experienced how white people segregate black people in her lifetime. As Martin Luther King JR shows in his speech, “I Have a Dream”, he awakened black people struggle to against inequality with government and society. John Blake demonstrates in his article, “The New Threat: Racism Without Racists”, black people are still being treated unfairly in reality. “In 'Born free'
Colonial Latin American society in the Seventeenth Century was undergoing a tremendous amount of changes. Society was transforming from a conquering phase into a colonizing phase. New institutions were forming and new people and ideas flooded into the new lands freshly claimed for the Spanish Empire. Two remarkable women, radically different from each other, who lived during this period of change are a lenses through which many of the new institutions and changes can be viewed. Sor Juana and Catalina de Erauso are exceptional women who in no way represent the norm but through their extraordinary tales and by discovering what makes them so extraordinary we can deduce what was the norm and how society functioned during this era of Colonial Latin America.
Growing up in an American society, we are surrounded by certain customs and mannerisms. We pay little attention to them, as they have been ingrained into our society and is apart of our everyday lives. It is when a new culture or society gets thrown into the mix that we notice the different customs. Our first reaction is to think their way is wrong or weird, but when you take a step back you realize that it’s not weird at all, in fact it is as natural as breathing. They are from a different country, therefore they have different customs and way of living. To them, our ways are just as strange.
Judith Ortiz Cofer, a professor of english and creative writing, tackles gender roles as well as cultural stereotypes in “ The Myth of the Latin Woman” and challenges them by attempting to replace the stereotypes with the realities. In “The Myth of the Latin Woman” Cofer discusses her life in America as a Puerto Rican woman. She also shares her stories of when she was stereotyped and how gender roles play a role in how Latinos are viewed. Stereotypes will follow you around because of your appearance and how the media portrays Latinas.
Racism is the discrimination of different race/races and is the thought of one race or color of skin has more physical/mental abilities than another. It is based on the additudes of one or more people based on the supposed superiority of one group to the supposed infiority of another. A lot of racism existed in the 1900s and with the help of some, most of it stopped. But now it’s coming back. So why do we think such things of other people? Is it really right to think of people differently because of the color of their skin?
The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria, an essay written by Judith Ortiz Cofer, discusses the racial stereotypes Cofer struggles with as a Latin woman who travels across America. Throughout her life, Cofer discusses her interactions with people who falsely misjudge her as a Latin woman. Additionally, Cofer mentions other Hispanic women she has met in her life, who also suffer with racial assumptions. Although several people would disagree with Cofer and claim that she is taking racial remarks too seriously, racial stereotyping is a significant issue that should not be overlooked in our society. People should not base someone’s worth by their outward appearance or their ethnic background.
My perception of our world is that racism exists everywhere, even in the land of liberty, America. I am aware of the fact that there is racism against not only blacks, but also whites, Asians, along with people from all other ethnicities. I believe racism is deplorable in any form. Therefore I do my best not to be racist in any way.
Rivas-Rojas, Raquel. “FABULAS DE ARRAIGO VICARIO EN LA NARRATIVA DE JULIA ALVAREZ. (Spanish).” Canadian Journal Of Latin American & Caribbean Studies 33.66 (2008): 157-169. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.