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Lorde’s “Age, Race, Class, Sex”, discusses American society and the oppression immigrants face. It discusses how oppressors will use the oppressed and their differences against them in order to keep the Social Order in control. The current administration has made it its mission to keep immigrants oppressed. Nobody can hear or understand our struggles until they have lived in our shoes. Why is it that everyone can long for a better life for their families except for us Latinos? Why are Mexicans being targeted and why are we being thrown into camps and treated like animals. This has left a sting on our communities.

We hurt everyday for those of us who haven’t been able to fix their status but continue to go to work everyday to provide for their families. Us children of immigrants are grateful to be in America but are hurt our older generations are being targeted. It means so much to be Mexican-American, especially nowadays when we can easily be profiled or called racial slurs.

In the past, Mexican-Americans have been faced with systems trying to erase our culture and who we are. Unfortunately, under the new administration, we are once again being racially profiled and facing backlash for embracing our culture. Trask’s “The Color of Violence”, discusses how America is built on racism and there exists a hierarchy of skin color. Our current President has made it evident how deeply rooted racism is and it is currently affecting us. It is unfortunate that this is the case and we must continue to vote for the right people and make systematic changes to fight for our people.

My sisters and I saw how our parents went through obstacles to give us a better life and we made it our mission to live the lives they yearned for. My parents now have their citizenships due to my sister who is now a U.S. Marine. As children of immigrants we will not be silenced nor oppressed and will continue to pursue for more, because that is why our parents came here: to give us a better life.

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Growing up, I was the youngest of three sisters. My experience having only sisters, altered my view on gender quite a bit. Although some Mexican-American homes tend to be centered around “machismo”, which means focusing on masculine pride, my experience growing up was not like that. My sisters and I were able to make decisions freely, experiment, decide what we liked and didn’t. We were taught traditional views, but we were also told that we shouldn’t have machisto views. As I got older and gained my own view points, I never felt that I must lower myself for a man.

However, once I turned 18 and gained life experience outside of my own bubble, I realized that the world is functioning to treat men as the “model figure”. It opened my eyes and made me realize that being submissive to men doesn’t just refer to cleaning or cooking for them, but also very obvious gender divisions and inequalities in the workplace and even in college. Lorber’s “Social Construction of Gender”, taught me how gender inequality is dominating our society. According to Lorber’s reading, the social order intentionally devalues women in our society in order to allow the world domination of man. As a young woman of color trying to make her way into society, it is evident that there will always be hardships for me. For women of color, it takes more effort to be taken seriously than say a white woman.

I’ve also learned that as a woman of color, my struggles and experiences will never be identical to that of white women. White women will always be more accepted by the systems in order. They will also be more prone to accept submission vs fighting for gender inequalities. This is a major detail in Arvin’s “Decolonizing Feminism”. Feminism has lost its true meaning, now that individuals have chosen to water it down to fit their agendas. This makes it harder for women of color feminists, who are fighting for more than just gender rights.

As a woman of color, I acknowledge that it will take a lot to fight for my rights, knowing I am a minority. I hope to one day be able to look back at my struggles and applaud myself for conquering them and chasing my dreams and allowing them to come true. I hope to one day be able to look back at my struggles and applaud myself for chasing my dreams and allowing them to come true.

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I grew up as a low-income person of color and I was faced with multiple instances of imposter syndrome. My parents wanted a better life for me and would enroll me in advanced schools in better communities. My mom believed that the schools in those areas took education more seriously and were also away from bad influences. While I was grateful, I never felt as if I had my own sense of community. My friends lived far away and I didn’t know any of the kids in my neighborhood. Sometime during my childhood, I was enrolled in a non-profit dance program for kids who wanted to learn how to dance but didn’t have the funds to afford high-end classes. The program, Everybody Dance LA, allowed me to meet like-minded people who were in similar situations as me.

I was mainly surrounded by other girls, like me, who loved to dance and were faced with obstacles. I felt safe amongst others like me, who helped me focus on decentering any male views and staying true to who I was as a girl of color. The real world, which is male dominated, tries hard to devalue us women, as stated in Lorber’s “Social Construction of Gender”. By exploring creative outlets at a young age, I feel that it helped me overcome any insecurities I had about my purpose and value. Being able to express yourself, frees you from social rules that want to oppress you. I still sometimes take classes, when I feel drowned by responsibilities and oppression.

Overall, familiarity brought me comfort and allowed me to blossom even when there were obstacles in my way. This to me resembles Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals, which discusses what it means to feel inadequate in a white dominated society, as a woman of color who comes from a struggling background. It is easy to diminish one’s achievements and light, when surrounded by others who may appear intimidating or brush us off. However, as Lorde says, by having her community she was able to speak up about the injustices she was faced with. She says that voicing the fear, pain, and anger she’s been dealt with were necessary for her survival and strength, ultimately thanking her community for allowing her to finally heal. I find that beautifully relatable because having a community can truly encourage a person to beat all odds stacked against them. My dance program was my safe space from the day I joined to the day I graduated high school and shaped who I am today.

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My grandfather was recently a victim of a hit-and-run in Los Angeles. He was severely hurt and suffered multiple broken bones. His experience at the hospital was rough. The language barrier was a huge obstacle for him. He felt intimidated to speak out due to the differences between him and the hospital staff. As a Hispanic immigrant, he did not feel safe in the hospital. With race being a tense subject right now, he felt more of a target than anything else.

Looking back at Lorde’s “The Cancer Journals”, it is difficult to see how many people feel intimidated at hospitals due to how different they are. My grandfather felt there was a disconnect between him and the hospital staff. Unfortunately, it is very common for minorities to feel ashamed to go to a doctor. Nowadays, hospital staff are boldly stating their racist opinions on social media, assuming there will be no penalty for their words. However, it is bringing awareness to the fact that hospital employees aren’t typically fond of their patients if they don’t deem them important or superior. This parallels back to how my grandfather felt, and it is truly sad to think about how professionalism in certain hospital settings is vanishing.

If we were all treated equally, this would not be an issue. Trask’s “The Color of Violence”, notes how mistreatment exists due to various reasons such as: race, skin color, and income. It also notes the way racism will keep on existing so long as they keep us inferior. My grandfather’s freak accident did not get him the justice he deserved. The police did very little to track him down and did not bother to get security camera footage. With little to no evidence available to catch the perpetrator, my grandfather was able to gather that he was a white male. The police gave up shortly after, making it noticeable how little care LAPD has for minorities who face trouble and are seeking justice, leading one to wonder, would the police have sought out the perpetrator if he had been a person of color?

Despite the odds, my grandfather was able to recover through the help of his community. We were all there to support him and raised money thanks to our community coming together for him.

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Teaching the Next Generation from our Survival

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Teaching the Next Generation from our Survival

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After 20 years of being the youngest sibling, my brother has now taken the throne. My family is now in a completely different situation than we were in when I was a little girl. My parents are now doing well which means my brother will have different life experiences growing up than I did. Despite our age gap, I still feel a strong urge to protect him. As an older sister, I want to make sure that he never has to worry about anything such as how to apply for college or worry how much school will cost. I don’t want him to have to worry about oppression or racial discrimination. It is important to me that he knows he has a community that supports and loves him. It is difficult right now to be a Latino in America and I want nothing more than to make sure that my brother doesn’t have to worry about any of that for a very long time.

American systems are strongly centered upon differences as noted by Lorde in “Age, Race, Class, Sex”. The system of oppression is strong in American society and anybody not deemed white or male is seen as inferior. This is the reason why I feel I must protect my brother at all costs. As a young adult, I’ve already been exposed to all the cracks and racism this country has to offer. I would hate to see him experience that. I want him to be able to succeed despite that, knowing he has my family and I to support him. I hope our past successes and mistakes can lead him down a path that will avoid all of that and help him have an easy life in years to come.

Trask states in “The Color of Violence”, that modern form of racism is portrayed through the diminishing of other cultures and poverty. It is my duty as an older sister, to ensure that my brother never loses sight of his Mexican culture. I grew up surrounded by Mexican culture, but now that my parents are in their late 40s and my grandparents in their late 60s, it will be easier to let our culture slip by. What we are seeing today is Mexican-Americans who lost sight of their culture, turn their backs on their fellow Mexicans who are being targeted by the current administration. Overall, it is very important for me that he does not submit to the ideologies that diminish bright cultures simply to please settler colonialism beliefs.