Clarissa Blanco, Blog 10: My 332 Evolution

                      Today at work, a coworker of mine told me "You better not get your hair all in my smoothies!" Usually at work, when I work the stations I wear a hair net since I work in the dining hall. But today, I worked cashier. Therefore my hair was as free as my spirit! But, my coworker, who was a couple of feet away, obviously didn't appreciate this. When I responded with "But I'm not even close to your smoothies!" she hit me with an accusation, in her Jamaican accent, that I thought I would never here: "White peoples' hair fly"....

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHPAUSESTOPTHESHOWHOLDUPWAITAMINUTEBREAKTIME

White??! Out of all of the things you can call me...you choose to call me white? You couldn't say people with long hair, curly hair, full hair, thick hair....? You had to call me white? I was mind blown. Could Ms. Beverly not see the facial features that differentiated me from the white race? How could she call me something that I obviously was not? It was at this offensive moment in time that I realized and had a nothing-but-REAL experience with the racial issues that we've been discussing in class all semester. I realized that while I have nothing against "white" people, I don't like to be accused of something that I am not. Why is it that because my skin as not as dark as Ms. jamaicanBeverly, I'm the extreme(white). Is it REALLY all about skin color? Due to the amount of respect I have for older people, I didn't  disrespect Ms.Beverly but I definitely defended myself. "Would you consider an African American man and Jamaican man the same?" I hit her with the question I knew would make her think twice. Because, you see SexyRacy, every Jamaican woman has told me the same thing about men: they would NOT date anyone who was not Jamaican. For many reasons (these are reasons that I've actually been given by Jamaican women) :

1. They just "get it"
2. They're "the best" in bed
3. They understand the culture
4. They're easygoing

When Ms. Beverly responds with a "Yes", I make it personsal: "Oh really? So do you think Mr. Errol (Jamaican co-worker) and Mr. Charles (African American co-worker) are the same?" She then revealed that they are NOT the same, but only look the same. Oh really Ms. Beverly? Is skin color really THAT important? And here is where she threw her own self under the bus "In Jamaica, there are people of my skin color, your skin color, his skin color..." To which I responded "So if I were Jamaican would you call me white?" NO RESPONSE FROM MS. BEVERLY!
           Wow, I'd always known that skin color was a big deal in society, but never until now had I had a face-to-face experience with this issue; the culmination of our expected life lesson learned in 332. We learned that due to the efforts of Robert Kennedy, Hispanics earned a "checkbox" along with Whites and Blacks. WE ARE OUR OWN PEOPLE why try to classify me into "whiteness" just because my skin is not as dark as yours? If this class did anything for me, it helped to evaluate and analyze situations just like my encounter with Ms. Beverly. It helped me to open my eyes and see the big picture as struggle that comes with any race, because within every race are HUMAN BEINGS. We are  human beings: blood, organs, tissues, cells, emotions, families, knowledge....all of us are connected to each other by the simple explanation of how we all function. This class most definitely enhanced my sense of community with others, and the importance of partnership and building relationships. While skin color is most obvious, it should not be the only difference we notice or what we see that sets us apart from others. Its important to notice the differences, but more important to embrace them, learn from them, and use them to help us grow and individuals that add something significant back into our community. Ms. Beverly may have pissed me off, but thats okay because she still has to learned- she probably has never had a Professor Aguas in her life.

Thank you Aguas for helping me begin a journey that will never end.