Race, Background and Gender

Olympia C.

Discrimination occurs because of people’s opposition to a certain gender, race, age, or color.  I believe that all of us face discrimination at one time or another in our life.  I would like to talk about the discrimination I witnessed the other day at my job in the Bronx.

I work in a supermarket along with my friend.  A customer came up to her and asked her very random questions.  He asked her where she grew up, who she lived with, and if she goes to school.  My friend responded but with a little attitude that she grew up in the Bronx, she lives with her mom and goes to school in the city.  The only thing he focused on was going to school in the city.  He could not believe that this “unwholesome” girl went to school in Manhattan.  He told us that no girls from the Bronx are “well put together” and he was surprised that she managed to get into a good CUNY school.  He also commented on the fact that her father was not in the picture and assumed she had a Spanish father because he “was a deadbeat.” I was shocked at what was coming out of his mouth.

It goes to show you that no matter how great of a person you one may be, there is a label put on them simply because of where a person grew up and who raised them.  Just because a girl does not grow up with a father and lives in a place with a bad reputation does not mean that she is automatically a bad person.  It made me wonder, is this the first thing people think when they see me? An unwholesome girl from the Bronx with no father in her life? That is definitely not the case.  People are extremely narrow minded and put labels on others to make themselves feel better.  First impressions are important, but because of biased opinions, I believe timely impressions are more significant.

In Churchill’s work, he speaks very strongly about targeting a specific group of people.  Although this incident did not involve race, I still felt that there was a label put on us simply because of where we come from.  People ignore these remarks and laugh it off.  “It’s no big deal.”  But to those being judged it is a big deal.  I loved Churchill’s sarcasm.  It was a great way to get his point across while at the same time making those who ignore the discrimination look stupid.  He puts down those who are close minded and do not care about the injustice around them.  He does it in such an inspiring way.  People grow to feel isolated, like an outsider.  I agree that we need to stop pre-judging and hurting others just to “laugh a little.”

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