When my brother was in third grade, he told me a nasty joke with a racial slur aimed at Hispanics. When I explained that he was insulting himself, he was totally angry and shocked.
Because listening to mom speak and curse in Spanish and being tormented for attempting to do what other American kids did as a matter of course was not a sufficient clue. Nor were the hordes of Spanish-speakers at all of our parties or the continual meals of rice and beans. And, like, the celebration of the Feast of the Three Kings in January, where we did the rosary all in Spanish? Not adequately indicative of ethnicity for a third-grader.
I could have told him we were Armenian and he would have believed me just as easily.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Latina Pride in October
Date: 2011-11-12 04:03 am (UTC)When my brother was in third grade, he told me a nasty joke with a racial slur aimed at Hispanics. When I explained that he was insulting himself, he was totally angry and shocked.
Because listening to mom speak and curse in Spanish and being tormented for attempting to do what other American kids did as a matter of course was not a sufficient clue. Nor were the hordes of Spanish-speakers at all of our parties or the continual meals of rice and beans. And, like, the celebration of the Feast of the Three Kings in January, where we did the rosary all in Spanish? Not adequately indicative of ethnicity for a third-grader.
I could have told him we were Armenian and he would have believed me just as easily.