My Race & Ethnicity Class

I loved the class (taught by Daniel Poole). I was challenged to the point of no return….and that’s a good thing.

My mother was a first generation Mexican American. My mostly absent father is a teacher turned biker club president, blonde with gray eyes. I never felt I belonged in the white or Mexican race. I grew up in Utah after my parents divorced when I was 4 years old. I am not Mormon. I was baptized Catholic in my preteen years, trying to find a way to fit  in. At that time, it was challenging to grow up here in those circumstances. Within my mother’s family I was Mexican…. sometimes. But when they were fed up with the racism doled out to them, I was a white girl.  I am fair-skinned but have large dark eyes and hair.

When I fill out a census report I never feel like I choose the right description. White not Hispanic, isn’t true for me. Hispanic doesn’t feel right either. This ethnicity awareness brings an awakening. I recognize that my ethnicity is tied to the culture of my sphere of influence; my friends and my family as well as their friends and families. It is a ripple effect. I’ve been told I look like an “exotic” white woman but my ethnicity is more connected to the black and the Hispanic culture.

Race is an unbalanced bold illusion. It is a SOCIAL CONSTRUCT. It creates a web of oppression that touches every single thing in our lives. If we are ever to change this in our world, we must understand it first. Come to this class with an open mind and heart and judge for yourself.