R.E.A.L. Talk,
High Tech Middle Media Arts,
7th Grade Trailblazer

I never really have thought through what my grandma was saying. I was only just a little girl. I still am but after all these years, I have decoded her. She never thought she was being controlling. She never knew how meaningful all those sentences, all those messages were to me. I thought she was just joking.“You can’t marry a black man” she says. “You can’t marry a Chinese man.” Not knowing that she’s stereotyping all those people by their skin color or their religion based on past events. I never knew if her parents taught her to be this way. I never knew them at all. I have a lot to learn for her because i want to help her accept others not paying attention to their skin color, their religion, or from past events of others who are in the same culture. That is not the only stereotype i have encountered. A lot of people ask me “what are you?” and i say “I’m Mexican.” Then they always seem to have a face telling me “Really, you’re Mexican?” Another event was when I was on my way to my summer camp in a bus carrying all the others heading to the same place I had been asked the same question. When I responded they said, “Really? You look way too pale to be Mexican.” At that point I had no idea what to say back. I thought, I don’t have to be really tan to be Mexican. I took that comment very offensively and I immediately stopped talking to that person. I did not want to hang out with anyone who believes that you need to look a certain way to “fit into” your culture.

No Reality to Race

Race was never scientifically real. Race was invented in the 17th century. At this point, many people discriminated against Africans for their color and used them for free labor. Most of the population labeled others by their skin color or their characteristics, making others treat them a certain way. In reality 99.9% of each person is the same, so why does that 0.1% matter? This was scientifically proven by the Human Genome Project or the HGP. A student from University of Iowa College of Law states this piece: “Race is not biological. It is a social construct. There is no gene or cluster of genes common to all blacks or all whites. Yet, a person who could be categorized as black in the United States might be considered white in Brazil or colored in South Africa. Like race, racial identity can be fluid. How one perceives her racial identity can shift with experience and time, and not simply for those who are multiracial. These shifts in racial identity can end in categories that our society, which insists on the rigidity of race, has not even yet defined.” Many people don’t know the truth about this statement. Therefore, causing others to still think that racism is an appropriate thing to do to others. If people don’t know this, most people will think that race is scientifically and socially real, and that has been something that has been a myth for many ages. I think people should know the truth about their society and not rely on the community or the media to tell you the truth all the time.
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