I really enjoyed the way this writer writes. Although this Chapter shows the jarring experiences that Mr. Page and his family went through, it shows us the reality that Black Americans have had to face and continue to do so until this day. He explained how difficult it was and continues to be, even though times have changed. Even though segregation is a thing of the past, he still finds himself with feelings of unequal treatment within the black communities. It’s not unimaginable that these feelings would resonate and linger within him.
I can completely relate to when he said to this mother, “I wish I was white,” because he couldn’t go to an amusement park solely because he was black. That feeling reminded me of when I was in 8th grade. All of my friends were white. They were all beautiful cheerleaders and I wanted to be a cheerleader so badly. I wished that I could go to homecoming and all of the dances at school. Because they were white, their parents did not care and were not strict. They could basically go to all of the events and do what they wanted. I wished in those moments I could be white so that I could also participate in all of those awesome events.
Later, I realized it wasn’t that I wanted to be white, I just wanted parents who didn’t hold their thumb on my forehead every minute. Of course, I wanted less strict parents who allowed for me to do the normal teenage things other teenagers were doing. Anyway, that wasn’t my life.
I did face discrimination by others growing up. I grew up as a migrant student in the ESL programs. You never forget the way people treated you or how they made you feel. How you were always talked about as less than and were made to feel inferior. I too experienced never being Mexican enough for the Mexicans when we would visit Mexico and I wasn’t American enough for the Americans. It was so frustrating, annoying actually.
I literally got in a fight in my teenage years because I was speaking English to my sister in Mexico and these jealous girls walking by were like “oh, look at her she thinks she’s all bad speaking English (in Spanish, of course) so I responded back in Spanish, “what’s your problem.” She must have been so angry with herself I assume because I didn’t do anything, but she charged towards me. Before I can even go after her, my older sister had already snatched her up by her long black hair and was pounding her ass on the floor. Hey, we are not fighters and are respectful people but when people discriminate against you and are judging you for no reason at all, they are going to get what they deserve.
Racism, prejudice, discrimination all over the world, is real. It is everywhere. It is important to always remember where you come from, who you really are and to never let go of your cultural values and traditions because they are trying to make us forget who we are and the cultural backgrounds that define us.
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