Vanessa Ayala,
Fountain Valley, CA.
I was 17 when I first realized how important it was for others for me to be politically correct about my race. I was at work one day and an older gentleman stopped me to “compliment” me, he said I looked like a beautiful Aztec princess I just smiled and was trying to get back to work, he said what is your ethnicity? To end the conversation as quickly as possible I just said, “Mexican”. He said, “Do you speak Spanish? Were you born in California? or Mexico? I just stared at him and said California… Ah he said, then you’re not Mexican, you’re Mexican-American”.
CBU-HIS311!