Lauren Reynoso's Expository Writing Blog : November 2013

Lauren Reynoso

Dr. Preston

English 1A

November 9th, 2013

The Problem Of Racism Around The World

Can you image how much welcoming, sweet, and happier this world would be without racism? Well, through my years of being on this earth, I have had the awful pleasure of being able to witness, hear, and deal with this world racism problems. I have come across many different facts about racism including, “ African- Americans comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population and the 14 percent of the monthly drug users, but 37 percent of the people that are arrested for drug related offenses in America.” There may be certain races that may be most known for a certain thing including crimes, theft, and those certain things but everyone is human, everyone is the same therefore no one in this world deserves to be mistreated because of the color of their skin or because of the way they look. It is absolutely wrong and awful. The other facts that opened my eyes are, “In a 2009 report, two-thirds of the criminal receiving life sentences were non-whites. In New York, it is 83 percent.” When I read this I think to myself, I wonder why African Americans are the way they are and why they are committing so many crimes and using drugs so often. Then a thought comes to my mind and it is that they have nothing else to do with their lives. They make these bad decisions because this world only thinks they are capable of those decisions so they don't offer any better than they think they deserve. I can tell a story that is from my own past and what actually happened in front of my one time. My three girlfriends and I went on a trip to San Francisco and there are so many different things to see and do there. So we decided we would get ready in our hotel room and dress up nice to go have a dinner down at the Union Square because we had gone during Christmas time and it was so beautiful, the tree was lit and there were so many amazing things to look for and see. So we decided we wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory. So we are on our way to The Cheesecake Factory and as we are passing right by the tree and right by the ice skating rink; I look down to my right corner and I see a homeless black man who was sitting right below this tree. There were so many people walking by and looking and he was holding up a sign. So I decided to walk by and look at the sign as I was walking and the sign read, “I know I am black but I am willing to work for anything.” As I saw that I looked to my friends and I said did you see that and they both answered no and so I stopped and had them read it. They could not believe their own eyes and were so shocked. I; to this day, cannot believe that some man would ever have to think or describe himself in that way. Everyone is human and everyone should be treated the same. The fact that no one can walk this world with just a normal and happy life without having to be sat there and stared at by others who have different colored skin than they do, or who don't look the same as they do. This is not just in racism. This goes for anything as far as hairdo’s to the way your makeup is done to any type of disorder. It just amazes me that our world can be so cruel and judgmental. Nobody in this world is perfect. I don’t care what anyone says or who tries to avoid that statement but NO ONE is perfect therefore everyone has their flaws, everyone doesn’t do everything right and the fact that someone thinks that they can point out other peoples flaws and troubles is not right in anyway. Another big thing for me is that when I walk around school I see others hanging out in many different groups. Some of the groups we call jocks, partiers, nerds, asians, athletes and there are so many more. I feel that everyone likes their own things and no one should be judged just maybe because you don’t hang out with the nerds doesn’t mean that you never can. Someone may get into a fight in their group, say one of the jocks get into a fight with another jock and so one of them is kicked out of the “group” and then the jock wants to go into the other group of maybe athletes. The athletes need to be welcoming and sometimes you do find that and sometimes you don’t. It really just depends on what you like and what you want. Everyone should learn how to welcome others into other groups. Not everyone may want to hang out with all the same people and therefore meeting new people and hanging out with others is always a good thing.

In a lot of places you always see other races trying to act like someone or something they are which most of the time means another race. There are a lot of white people out there at my school that are always trying to act like Hispanics. They end up starting to hang out with them and do the things that the Hispanics do and then you start to see them dressing like the hispanics and then they start talking like them. It is all just a matter of who you are, who you want to be and who you are striving to be. I found a certain fact and it says, “A survey in 2011 revealed that 52 percent of non-Hispanic whites expressed anti-Hispanic attitudes.” There are always those type of people out there so in that case I feel that everyone needs to be the person they really are and not try to be someone they really aren’t because in the long run; if you are trying to make someone happy with someone you really aren’t and are acting to be someone then eventually they will realize that because you wont have any other ways to impress them or try to satisfy their every need and that is really not how the world is supposed to work. Everyone was made to be someone specifically and if God wanted you to be the way you are either wanting or trying to be then he would’ve made you that way. There is always a reason for everything and I don’t think people realize that. A lot of people have a hard time realizing stuff like that and they are always thinking that they need to be better and that they need to act like someone they are not and it is not good at all.

I have also began to notice that there are a lot of different black and whites in the federal and state prisons that go in for the same drug offense or murder sentence or something along that line but then the blacks end up getting and having to serve more time that the whites. I found a fact to relate to my point and to show that that is in some cases true, “In 2010, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that blacks receive 10 percent longer sentences than whites through the federal system for the same crimes.” I do not think that is right at all. And again that is what is wrong with our world today. There are always so many problems with racism and everyone acts like they are trying to stop it but it all just keeps going on and on and no one seems to be wanting to fix anything therefore I feel that if someone would just maybe start changing somethings and changing the way they do things and the way they treat certain people than I truly feel like this world would be such a happier, warmer and sweeter place. I really do look forward to looking and living in the future where hopefully we get to see a stop and end to this awful habit that others have and finally start to see a change in others attitudes and how others act towards each other and their actions towards each other because I truly feel that if someone were to start to stop their ugly habits that other would then look and that and then start to stop theirs are well and then it would all just go and flow together.

I remember; I can’t recall if it was my 7th or 8th grade year of school in Jr. High School, I remember being told that it was time to be shown the way it used to be in the older days and the way slaves and African-Americans used to be treated. So my class was very scared because we had always heard nothing about bad things about this movie and how sad it was and how many people would feel so bad and cry about this movie. So then came the day where we were finally going to start watching the movie. I can’t remember what it was called but I remember exactly what the boys name Kunta Kinte. He was the main character and was kind of like a slave. He was always being tossed around, always be told what to do and when to do it, he was always trying to do his best and when he thought he had finally reached the goal and the best he could do, others would always bring him down and somehow find a way to do whatever he did ten times better. I could not believe some of the scenes that were in the movie. It was just amazingly disgusting to see all of the different things that they used to make these poor African-American “slaves” do. It was so harsh and unhealthy. So mean and cruel. To this day, we get to look back on that and say how much we have improved and how much better we have gotten from that day but really you still look at these days now and you see the same racial discrimination going on on the streets in our own hometown city every single day. I just wonder to myself when all of this will stop, when will this all go away, when will people finally start to realize that everyone was born human. No one is the same and no one is perfect but it is what it is and hopefully one day people will look at themselves and finally say, “Well I am okay with the way I look,” or “I am okay with having dark or blonde hair.” I really feel that it is just a matter of time and that we are finally coming close to it. I know that somewhere in the near future we will finally be able to walk around and not have to hear racial slurs and racial remarks being said everywhere we go and everywhere we walk. That day is coming and we all know it is just a matter of time now. I am very happy to say that I surround myself with people from many races. I do not have all white friends, I do not have all mexican friends, I do not have all African- American friends and I am 110 percent okay with the fact that everyone of my friends are not the same and maybe we are not all happy and we are not all very wealthy but I am proud to say that I am not a big racial discriminator and that I am okay with everyone and I am always welcome to meeting new people and I am always there to help everyone and anyone. I hope to see more people trying to change the acts the everyone in this country and beyond has developed and change them around to what it really should be like.

The last fact that caught my attention was, “ Studies show that police are much more likely to pull over and frisk blacks or Latinos than whites. In New York City, 80 percent of the tops made by the NYPD were blacks and Latinos, and 85 percent of those people were frisked, compared to a mere 8 percent of the white people stopped.” I think it is ridiculous to see how crazy the racial discrimination has gotten through the years and I can not wait until there is someone out there who starts to take charge and really finally try to put a stop to this and succeeds.

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