This essay is going to be a memoir about my life. A part of my life where I found myself attacked because of my race, ethnicity and nationality. After sacrificing everything I was left with nothing. I became depressed, forcing me to change my lifestyles and become the person I am today. Race is something that we are born with, we can’t change it. We are born with it and have to bear the injustice that also comes with it. In Learning To Be White by Doctor Thandeka, She says in the preface that “no one is born white”, which can also be used as no one chooses to be born their race (preface). It is one of the biggest factors that causes discrimination. It started for me at the age of four-years old. It was about a year after 9/11, I lived in
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It was my first day of kindergarten, I walked to the entrance of the school. The rose-red brick church stood with the sun at its back, exaggerating the facade of a refuge. The transparent door gave me a glimpse the enjoyable atmosphere. Unaware of the hell I was getting myself into, I opened the door and took my first step into the school. Ring the door sung and almost instantaneously, what was once an enjoyable atmosphere changed into a cold, malicious hell. The eyes of the parents directed straight towards me, as if I was a threat to their well-being. With the feeling of fear I looked down at the floor and briskly walked to the line to be introduced to my teachers. My hands were shaking and my heart galloping at mach 5. Suddenly the floor became a wall with me on top. I slowly looked up to see a man with a mahogany beard, smiling at me with a sense of accomplishment. He continued on his way, murmuring “Serves you right Terrorist.” I looked around to see everyone on the verge of laughing. With tears rolling down my eyes, I stormed through the doors walking back home. That was the beginning of my long school career filled with …show more content…
However that is not always the case. Ethnicity is the one characteristic that can be changed to meet a person’s convenience, In America, people are allowed to practice anything that they feel as fun and enjoyable. The majority practices what is practiced now. This resulted in me doing everything white and repudiated all of my non-”white” traditions. I ate “white” foods, dressed “white”, and played “white” sports. I was the reincarnation of a white person. All of my friends were white which influenced me into integrating with Whites. It was a temporary fix in not getting bullied and an easy approach to surviving in white society. However after my friends saw through my disguise, I was labeled as a fake and resulted in me being bullied again. I was at square one I had changed myself into being white, but that got me nowhere. I ended in a state of depression. All my only solution ended with me being bullied again. My idea of integration of ethnicity was shattered. I had to change, and start all over. I had to redefine ethnicity to the traditions that a person chooses to practice. Mary C. Waters describes it as “symbolic ethnicity . . . the ethnicity . . .is a largely a matter of personal choice”(149). It was only a coincidence that the majority of Americans practices the same thing. As a result, I decided to follow my Indian roots and practice a mix of both American customs and Indian customs.
It was my first day of kindergarten, I walked to the entrance of the school. The rose-red brick church stood with the sun at its back, exaggerating the facade of a refuge. The transparent door gave me a glimpse the enjoyable atmosphere. Unaware of the hell I was getting myself into, I opened the door and took my first step into the school. Ring the door sung and almost instantaneously, what was once an enjoyable atmosphere changed into a cold, malicious hell. The eyes of the parents directed straight towards me, as if I was a threat to their well-being. With the feeling of fear I looked down at the floor and briskly walked to the line to be introduced to my teachers. My hands were shaking and my heart galloping at mach 5. Suddenly the floor became a wall with me on top. I slowly looked up to see a man with a mahogany beard, smiling at me with a sense of accomplishment. He continued on his way, murmuring “Serves you right Terrorist.” I looked around to see everyone on the verge of laughing. With tears rolling down my eyes, I stormed through the doors walking back home. That was the beginning of my long school career filled with …show more content…
However that is not always the case. Ethnicity is the one characteristic that can be changed to meet a person’s convenience, In America, people are allowed to practice anything that they feel as fun and enjoyable. The majority practices what is practiced now. This resulted in me doing everything white and repudiated all of my non-”white” traditions. I ate “white” foods, dressed “white”, and played “white” sports. I was the reincarnation of a white person. All of my friends were white which influenced me into integrating with Whites. It was a temporary fix in not getting bullied and an easy approach to surviving in white society. However after my friends saw through my disguise, I was labeled as a fake and resulted in me being bullied again. I was at square one I had changed myself into being white, but that got me nowhere. I ended in a state of depression. All my only solution ended with me being bullied again. My idea of integration of ethnicity was shattered. I had to change, and start all over. I had to redefine ethnicity to the traditions that a person chooses to practice. Mary C. Waters describes it as “symbolic ethnicity . . . the ethnicity . . .is a largely a matter of personal choice”(149). It was only a coincidence that the majority of Americans practices the same thing. As a result, I decided to follow my Indian roots and practice a mix of both American customs and Indian customs.