It's All Still A Distant Dream...

So this might seem like judgment, stereotypical generalizations or accusations, but they aren’t. They are my truth. My hope is that nobody is offended by this but most likely somebody will be. Nonetheless, I proceed with true to life occurrences. I only ask that you would read through this entire entry before making judgments.

I have never truly trusted white people, especially older ones. To be honest, they scare me. I have seen them my whole life with their white privilege and their haughty attitude of entitlement. I have tried not to see them this way, but something always brings back these thoughts.

Last Friday night I went to the fair with my sister and my buddy. We were having a great time and we decided to stop by a wine bar and have a quick glass. We happened to sit behind two old white ladies, my back was to them. There we were minding our own business when all of a sudden one of them dropped a plastic bag she was holding. I was going to sit there and let her pick it up, but I felt bad. I figured since she was old, and a woman, I would do her a favor and pick up the bag for her. So I did and I handed it to her. I asked if there was anything else that she dropped, and her response, although I’m used to it, still took me by surprise. She looked at her purse and said, “yes, that’s it, there’s no money in my purse or anything.” I was shocked that this old lady would be such an evil bigot that she would choose to offend me while I was doing her a favor. I was going to keep my mouth shut, but I felt she needed a response. I controlled my anger and simply said, “You know, I was just trying to help you since you dropped your bag, there was no need for you to be rude with racial comments.” I wanted to cuss! I wanted to tell her off. I wanted to pick up her glass of wine and throw it in her face! But I didn’t. For if I did that I would be no better than her or the idea of Hispanic people that she had in her tiny little ignorant brain. She tried to say that she wasn’t trying to be racist, but I wanted nothing to do with it. She tried to justify what she said but I told her to leave me alone.

Growing up in a rural, agricultural, and conservative county, I was used to the idea that I would be discriminated against. I have faced it ever since I was a small child and the fat old white lady who owned the hardware store would follow me through every isle of the hardware store, watching me and asking if I needed help when I had clearly just told her I didn’t a couple of minutes prior. That behavior continued throughout my adolescence, being harassed by police, rude comments from white folks, blatant racist comments, being followed around stores, being spoken to in Spanish when I was clearly speaking English… better than they were!

Young white people seem to be fairly open-minded, but the older ones seem to have problems. At this age, I have met some wonderful older white people. I have met older white people who have melted me with their kindness and respect, and yet I have met some that have destroyed me and all trust I could have in them.

In this day in age you would think we would be past racism and discrimination, but I think it’s more visible than ever. Having a black president in the white house has brought out the evil in men’s hearts as they criticize him, accuse him of being of other religions, of being born in other country’s all because of the color of his skin. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a day when people would be judged by the content of our character as opposed to the color of our skin, but it’s all still a dream. Meanwhile, back in reality, a young, educated, Christian, Hispanic male is still judged as a common thief in an attempt to show good character by helping an old white lady.