Discrimination Over The Years In 'The Myth Of The Latin Woman' And Other Stories

As historical records show, none of the societies or nations have been immune to discrimination, either as a victim or as a victimizer. First of all, discrimination is not a new problem because most of us have suffered discrimination in some part of our life. Now this issue is actively discussed, since in every country, there is some type of discrimination. Staples wrote an article called “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space” where he told some of the situations where people discriminated against him because of the color of his skin. Deborah L. Rhode wrote an article called “Why looks are the Last Bastion of Discrimination’’ where the story is revolved around how certain people's appearance can cause judgment towards them from others due to how they look. Judith Ortiz Cofer wrote an article called ‘’The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria’’ where as a Latin American woman, Cofer shares her opinion regarding the stereotypes that have occurred throughout her life. 

Comparing the stories of Staples, Comparing the stories of Staples, Cofer, and Rhode, I realize that I am far from being discriminated against as one of their stories. Staring with me, I am from Mexicali. Of course, I have many Mexican similarities, skin color, eyes, hair, and many more things that describe a Mexican. When I just moved to live in the United States, I noticed many differences, Mexico discriminated a lot for everything and not for leaving my country bad, but I noticed the great difference in coming to live in the United States. Notice the difference because people here in the United States do not even look at it, each one is in their world and that surprised me a lot, because in Mexico it is the opposite. I would like to compare some of their stories as each one of them tell, but refreshing my memory is not like that. Maybe it has not happened to me, but I know that my parents have experienced many things similar to the stories they tell. 

I was reading the Cofer story and it caught my attention, “I remember Career Day in our high school, when teachers told us to come dressed as if for a job interview” (356). She tells how she should be dressed needed for a job interview, but then she realizes that many people have directions for the type of dress and discriminate in such a way that dressing according to you is right for them is wrong. This is where my mother comes in, when my mom was young, she was always discriminated for her clothing, she liked wearing dresses and skirts , the other people said that their dresses and skirts were too short, but no, or so, for my mother the length of her dress and skirt was fine, and it is here where we realize how discrimination comes from years ago. As staples told in his story, ‘’Another time I was on assignment for a local paper and killing time before an interview. I entered a jewelry store on the city's affluent Near North Side’’ (366). This is where my father comes in, my dad is Mexican too, when he was 30 year old, he was sick and his face always looked bad, he went to a clothing store, to buy a suit for a family wedding, upon entering the store, they did not let him go through his clothing. I remember that my dad was very angry because they did not let him pass, and now that I understand everything, I realize the great discrimination there is, only for the clothing, for not looking good, for the skin color, race, there is this type discrimination is the worst.

In conclusion, social discrimination occurs for many reasons, skin color or simply race, but every time there is a greater number of cases which end in violent encounters, a change in education is needed. Only by educating you can change the perception of people about these events, it is necessary to unequivocally transmit that, there is no reason, no basis that justifies any behavior that tends to make another person less because of their origin. Discrimination is a problem that has been increasing over the years, a burden of which new laws, regulations, legal codes, etc. occur. As part of society we must accept those generated by the cultural multiplicity that exists, in order to have a healthy coexistence.