Never Change

Race is a very important factor in education, job opportunities, and politics because those three systems are what shape people into unique individuals.  As in the readings assigned in class, latino students and teachers have had to fight for Latin American history to be incorporated in the education systems.  Immigrants and even other races are racially discriminated when it comes to equal job opportunities because Americans feel that Latinos are only fit labor jobs when they work just as hard as everyone else.  Latino Americans are recently getting more involved in politics and trying to fight for equality.  About 6.6 million Latinos voted in the 2010 election.  Even though Latinos are involved in voting the numbers are constantly increasing and decreasing.  Latinos must stay consistent in voting if they would like for situations to change and earn equality.  Also in 2011, the unemployment rate for Latinos was 11.3%, which was lower than the U.S. population which was 8.8%.   (http://www.nclr.org/index.php/about_us/faqs/most_frequently_asked_questions_about_hispanics_in_the_us/)  Putting discrimination statements on application that people have to sign off on do not make any difference because people, especially immigrants and African Americans are still discriminated.  There should be no valid reason that the Latino unemployment rate is lower than U.S. population.  According to Edward Telles and Liza Steele the two did research on the effect that skin color have in America.  It was found that,”the people with the lightest skin color had the highest mean educational attainment and the darkest persons having the lowest.”  (http://americasquarterly.org/the-effects-of-skin-color-in-the-americas)  This shows that lighter people have an advantage over darker skin people when it comes to the education system.  They receive a more valuable education and when they are praised darker skin people feel incompetent.  Which is what has really stuck out to me is the way that students are forced into “acting white” in schools.  I have experienced something similar in my lifetime.  When I was in 13 I attended a predominantly white middle school.  I felt so left out because there was times where I was the only African American in class.  I was bullied because of my skin color and my tendency not to speak up for myself.  The bullying got to the point where I wanted to be white.  I started begging my mother to straighten out my hair, I changed my wardrobe, and even began to talk different.  It lasted until my senior year of high school.  My high school told students to “act smart,” “think smart,” and “be smart.”  Instilling those values in the students I began to believe that if one did not “act white,” then they would not be successful.  My high school did not even celebrate black history month or talk about slavery because they felt like at that point in our lives students should know their history.  The more students began to speak out on what my school was doing the more I realized that they was trying to brainwash us and make us forget about our background because it was not good for us if we wanted to be successful.  The more students complained, the more the school made an effort to please us.  This shows that as long as people stick together and fight for change it will come and people should never forget their backgrounds nor be ashamed of them.  Today I now do not “act white” but I am a professional and do know how to use proper english when in a professional setting.  Getting my high school to make changes is what taught me not to be afraid to be myself.