Paige Gooden
English
Holly Pappas
The Walk of Life.
I feel like I am always seeing a case of racism through social media. Whether that be a mass shooting, police brutality, terrorist attacks, etc. What many of us fail to realize is that everyone, regardless of ethnicity or color, have experienced racism at some point in their life. I sat down with seven people all from different ethnic, social, and political background to get a better understanding on their experiences and feelings.I asked them if they could give me a period in time where they have experienced racism, and this is what they had to say.
I got my feet wet by sitting with 3 women from my women’s meeting at church. Lenize who is Cape Verdean, Rachel who is Puerto Rican, and my cousin Madison who is Puerto Rican and Polish. Lenize, being of the darkest complexion, began with a story where she had experienced racism. “There was this woman who used to be a resident at the nursing home I worked at. She had these beautiful piercing blue eyes, but something about them was eerie. I remember trying to avoid her, because she had a dead, blank stare that was so creepy. One day I had to give her care, and she just started screaming ‘Nigger’ the moment I touched her. I had to leave the room after, and ask someone else to give her care. I was so shaken up after that,because I had never been called that before.” Next Lenize shared something very personal that she found within herself.“My father is super dark, and when I was pregnant with my daughter I hoped to myself she wouldn’t get that gene. I know it sounds awful, and when I realized what I was thinking I corrected myself. It shouldn’t be like that, and I felt terrible for thinking that way.
Then Rachel spoke up. “I can’t say that I have ever experienced something like that,” my cousin Madison shook her head in agreement as they are both of a white complexion,”but the elders in my family are very racist.” I was taken back by her statement a little bit, as I too have Puerto Rican family member and they are very dark. She continued to explain,”Basically I like black guys, all the guys I’ve dated have been black.My grandmother will often make little racist comments at my boyfriends in spanish. She even has a nickname for me, ‘Nina negra”, meaning little black girl because I date black guys.
Madisons eyes widened as she recalled a memory of her polish grandfather. “ My grandfather was very racist. I remember hearing of the time when one of my aunts had brought a black guy home, and my mother and the rest of her siblings begged him to be nice to the guy. I mean, literally begging him.”
After having this intriguing conversation I then thought of who else I could reach out to. I then decided to go to the multicultural center at BCC, and was able to sit down with four more people. Brandon who is a mix of Caucasian and Cape Verdean, Ollie who is Puerto Rican, Maria who is Honduran, and Amy who is caucasian. I wanted to observe in an area I knew would have a diversity of people, because I wanted a multiple opinions from people with all different backgrounds.
We walked into the multicultural center and were immediately greeted by a women asking us to kindly sign in. Another women, with a big smile said hello to us. Then the basketball coach came in, and asked what we were talking about. He seemed to be intrigued by the topic, and gave us to meaningful advice. Sitting in a circle, we looked like something straight out of “the view”. We were surrounded by inspirational quotes, and pictures of a variety of students who had graduated over the years.
Ollie got the ball rolling,” Not many people know I am Puerto Rican, a lot of people just think I am white. I think I receive more hate for being gay to be honest. Only a few times though have I experienced something. When I lived in Puerto Rico as a child the kids at school would say “La mona esta aqui’ meaning the monkey is here.” Another time I went to Main to visit a friend. His father acted really nice toward me, but when I left he called me a ‘faggot’ and a ‘spick’, which is the equivalence of the ‘N’ word to a black person, it’s just meant for an hispanic person.”
After deep thought Brandon spoke up. At first he couldn’t think of anything significant, but after some more questioning from me and hearing what Ollie had to say he remembered some things. “ I am a security guard for a store, and I had to kick this one lady out.She called me a ‘Nigger’, but it didn’t really offend me because she was calling everyone that. It didn’t matter what color they were. Also when I was younger my friends liked to call me ‘KnuckleDragger’.” I had so stop him mid sentence, because I as well as everyone else had never heard such a thing. “It’s calling me a Neanderthal and implying that ‘my kind’ hasn’t evolved since then.”
Maria joins in. “ In Honduras they like to say ‘Improve the race’ meaning white stays with white, black stays with black, just things like that. It isn’t something that everyone sticks too, but it is something that is said. I am currently dating a black guy , and when I told family and friends in Honduras they were a little shocked. It shouldn’t be surprising. There are alot of black people in Honduras due to slavery, it is a very diverse country. Although everyone gets along, the light skin people still act like they are better than everyone else.”
After hearing a little bit of everyone’s story we dove into a conversation where we could all share opinions on different topics. Amy, being caucasian didn’t have a first hand racism experience, but feels like she sees it in her surroundings. “Going to school in Seekonk, everyone is white. The education system is fantastic, but if you look at a city like pawtucket the education system isn’t as good. If you look deeper into that it is also a diverse city. I just feel like people of darker complexion aren’t given education opportunities, compared to a white kid.”
I found Amy’s argument interesting, and wanted to dive into one more topic before we dispersed. “How do you guys feel about the ‘N’ word,” I asked. Brandom was quick to dive in. “Well there’s a blaten difference between ‘Nigger’ and ‘Nigga’. The A ending is a way of greeting, but the er ending is considered to be racist.” I then asked if they thought it was okay for people to still use that word today. Again Brandon spoke,” Well you can’t have a double standard. You can’t say that only black people can say that. Either everyone can use it or not at all.” I then asked if any of them used the word. Everyone agreed it wasn’t a word they used, except for the exception of Brandon who said he really only ever said the word if it was in a lyric of a song he was singing.
The only word I can explain for how I feel about experience is Beautiful. I am so glad I was able to sit down,and get multiple perspectives from different ethnic backgrounds. Everyone’s stories were eye opening, and some even a little heartbreaking. Being able to hear both sides of the story, and having my own personal memories,I was really able to understand everyone point of view.I know that ‘lightskin’ babies are more desirable, and considered the epitome of beauty. I know what it is like to have your own Puerto Rican grandfather tell your mother that ‘she must not love him’ because she married a black man and conceived a mixed baby. I know what it’s like to get involved with a white man whose family is racist toward you.I feel that kind of pain,and I understand that kind of hurt. To never be good enough, and to always be ranked one step behind someone else only because of the color of your skin. However, my goal is to bring awareness to everyone regardless of their cultural background, because we have all been there once in our lives. Obviously this needs to change, and having conversations like these is a start.