Reflective Essay: Prejudice And Discrimination

For this discussion, I am going to stretch the thought behind it a bit, meaning the history I am going to discuss will include the last eleven months. For a little background, I am white/Caucasian and so is my husband, and in turn our two children, to be honest my husband and I are made up of seven different nationalities that we are aware of, it could be more, English, Prussian, German, Greek, Irish, Scottish, and French, but I guess all considered white. One of my son’s best friends is Mexican, that being said he is at our house often, did I mention my son is 21, these are not children. My son is in the military and his friend is in college completing his degree in criminal justice and is applying for the Joliet Police Department. He does not dress or act in a way that you would think could warrant discriminatory behavior, however on multiple occasions I have witnessed prejudice and discrimination. For instance, we were at a family restaurant, here in Joliet, following the hostess to the table, he was in the middle of the line, that included myself, husband, son daughter, and another friend, all of us white except him, and a middle aged man passing us nudged him and said “move spic”. At first I thought I must have misheard, when I realized I didn’t, I was appalled, and angry and to be honest I would have liked to smack the guy across the face. However, what was worse than the act itself, was his reaction, when we sat down, he just said “it’s not a big deal, it happens all the time, I just don’t let it bother me anymore”. …show more content…
I googled Hispanic stereotypes and this is what cam up; the Greaser, the Lazy Mexican, the Latin Lover, the Mamacita, maids, slum dwellers, drug addicts, gang bangers, feisty Latinas, the Mexican Spitfire, and the