Personal Narrative-Changing Experience: My Experience Of Racism

I don't know if this counts as an experience of racism or how my worldview was changed, or maybe a little of both but I'm going to go for it anyway. My best guess at the year if memory serves me was around 987/1988. Somewhere around the time, I was in 3rd or 4th grade. It was I believe summertime when this happened. I lived at the time in Lake City, just outside Lakewood in Washington State. I lived maybe a quarter mile from American Lake and would ride my bike there all the time. I had some friends-I remember they were Hispanic, but to this day I don't remember their names. I remember we lived along a busy, directly across from a little grocery store they changed hands every few years-mainly to different Asian families that are …show more content…
It was, and still is, the stereotypical quintessential quicke mart. The lowered aisle's to make it easier to watch customers, the sudden sweeping of the brooms in the area you're in by the 2 seconds ago you weren't their owners to make sure you are not stealing, sticky don't really work sad 4 or 5 used shopping carts, a whole aisle dedicated to all things ramen noodles with enough salt to kill an army, a wide selection of cheaply made hats and other trinkets, a wide variety of pipes with a sign that says for tobacco use only, half an aisle dedicated to family planning supplies, paper plates/plastic forks, paper towels, canned veggies, name brand soup, assorted cheaply made cleaning supplies, peanut butter, jam/jelly, creamer, coffee and coffee filters, one cold case filled with milk, eggs and cheese and several aisles of candy, snacks, crackers, several cold cases of beer, soda, frozen dinners and ice cream and of course, the hot box thing up by the register with questionable looking chicken, crusty old jo jos and greasy pizza. At the time, the neighbor kids who lived next door us received public housing and food stamps. This was still at the time when you actually got the colorful paper food stamps. The mom worked full-time as a book keeper, my friend's dad had taken off on them years earlier and me being 9, I just assumed food stamps was just a way some people paid for groceries at the grocery store. Just like my mom …show more content…
I didn't think it was a big deal then, and I still don't think it's a big deal now. Today the stigma of using the SNAP and TANF programs has gotten better in many ways, especially now with the widespread use of the EBT cards, but the stigma in many areas is still there. No one should feel as embarrassed as I was that day when using food stamps but sadly, it's still