While I am reading The Story of My Body, I am thinking about the racialism. Even though the minorities also could go to public school in the last mid-century, they were still segregated with the white children in some way.
As writer, Called Judith Ortiz Cofer, mentioned in her paper, “I hope my baby doesn’t turn out Prieto (slang for “dark or black”).” The person must be aware of his own existence by seeing itself by other people’s eyes. Her skin color is black, not like her parents. Her parents protect her from sunlight when she was a child to avoid her to have darker skin color. From this detail, audience would know that racial discrimination was still serious at that period of time, and Ortiz’s parents wanted their children to have white skin color which alluded that they thought white skin color was superior to dark skin color. She also write a shopping experience when she was a child. She touched a doll with blonde hair, which is symbol of white skin hair, but she didn’t buy it. The owner of market shouted at her and call her “dirt”, which is a extremely unpolite behavior. She went back home and wanted to wash out her “dark” skin. From these action, I allude that the writer also consider white color is superior to her skin color.
In the reading, she also writes her experience in American high school life. She was beautiful and tall respect to Puerto Rican, but she was not popular in school. She was short and thin compared to American white children. Even though she was good at studying, she was the last to be picked by game team. In her mind, she still consider that the white aesthetic is right. She loved an American white boy, called Ted, and she wanted to date with him. Unfortunately, Ted’s father disagree with their date, because she is a Puerto Rican with dark skin. The big psychological gap made her to be timid and afraid of joining games with white children.
To sum up, the racial discriminations happen all the time in her writing. I consider her story reflected story of minority’s life in last mid-century.
Hi jiang! I can feel your hatred for racism, and so do I. I think we have experienced the suffering of the third world countries, so this also proves the importance of national prosperity to people’s lives.We crossed the oceans, separated from family and friends, what is the purpose of studying in the United States？ I have thought of this before, but after reading this report, I learned that we need to eliminate this phenomenon of racial discrimination. In first step, we have to use the knowledge we have learned to strengthen the country.
I would like to add a question to think about how maybe these stories would have changed if they took place in today’s society.
For example, do you believe that she would face the struggle of fitting in at school because of her Puerto Rican heritage today? I would hope that Ted’s father would not discriminate against her in this day and age and would allow the two to go on a date.
Furthermore, how would Judith Ortiz Cofer’s thoughts have changed from the past? Would she feel the same way today about “The Story of My Body” or would she feel more confident in her own skin?
I believe with the social change that our society is beginning to challenge and undergo, Cofer would have had her stories shaped differently.
In today’s society, we all like to say that racial inequality and discrimination has gotten better, but I don’t think that is always true. We still have lots of systematic racism that is being taught to us in school, through the media, our culture, and the law. I would like to think that Judith’s Puerto Rican heritage would be more appreciated today, but just because people are more polite on the surface level, it doesn’t mean they don’t have biases or behind the scene judgements. People in a store might not say something about the color of her skin to her face, but they might see her and think she is more prone to shoplift or that she doesn’t have enough money to shop in that store. I think inter racial relationships are more common more then ever, so Ted’s parents are more likely to be accepting. However, I still know friends of mine who’s parents said that they wouldn’t accept someone with a darker skin color. It is upsetting because I wish things would be better for Cofer, but there is still a lot more progress to be done.
You bring up a great question about if she would still struggle today in high school due to her being puerto rican. I do think that she would have found friends and probably would have had a better overall school experience in todays society. But I do think she would still receive some type of prejudice, whether it be passive aggressive, unintentional, or explicit and out in the open. I think as a POC in America, even in todays world, you experience prejudice at some point in you life. But having a better overall experience, I would like to think, would have boosted her confidence and allowed her to be comfortable with herself.
To branch off of the comment by forte.72, regarding these situations occurring in todays society. I think that was an important topic to bring up. Understanding the past is hard for me to comprehend without something to compare it to, let alone the rest of the modern world. Today, we do still deal with racism; however, it is not remotely the same level that it was then. Other ethnicities are much more excepted today, we have more diversity in our nation today. I believe this is where you are getting at with your reflections, forte.72 and hutcherson.21, we still have racism today but it is more frowned upon than it was once. In all honesty, that is the best thing about looking at how things once were, we get to see how much we have evolved.
For my input, I would like to give a story of racial segregation that has existed even in the last decade. In 2011, my high school was consolidated with multiple other schools in the county. The racial makeup of each town was very different, one town even having only one black student out of 200. When the schools consolidated, many families from the school where there was little diversity had much backlash to the event. As I was going through my high school years, I could see some racial tension rise for no obvious reason other than the color of certain people’s skin. Over time, many of the conflicts dissipated as friendships formed and school spirit grew. The families of the non-diverse school still had many reservations, even when the younger generation was growing out of it. I think this speaks volumes on how far society has come, but there is still much work to be done to eradicate the racial disparities and tensions that we face as humanity.
I think that a really interesting way to think about the stories Judith Oritz Cofer told is as a development of the ideas of ‘self and other’ that we discussed last week. In particular, the story of hers that you shared where she wanted to wash the the color out of her skin because of the way people around her viewed her as lesser makes me think of the internalization by the ‘other’ of being less than the ‘one’. It is important to remember this side of discrimination. It is dehumanizing and can have effects that span generations (as seen in her story where she talked about her parents’ shame regarding her dark skin). I think that this is a powerful and important idea for Judith to have discussed, and it has massive implications in the modern America. I wonder how Judith came to overcome this internalized racism that had been imprinted upon her by those around her.
I think that what Judith Oritz Cofer wrote about is very relevant to today’s world. I agree with you that her stories reflect the experiences that minorities faced during that time period. Even beyond her stories, however, there are so many struggles that minorities faced back then and now that prove the similarities in Cofer’s life to today’s world. I think that her parents prove to be the root of the reason for her own self doubt because they exemplified their opinions on darker skin to her at an early age. Therefore, she grew up believing that how she looked was not normal and was not superior. This proves that racism is taught. Children aren’t born thinking that the color of someone’s skin defines them. Thus, it is important in today’s world to ensure that equality is taught at a young age to avoid the disgustingness of racism.
I agree with you completely that racism is taught. She even mentions in her story that skin tone was discussed often in her Puerto Rican culture but when she came to the United States it was a much more touchy subject. In the United States she was discriminated against for being Puerto Rican but in Puerto Rico she was praised for being white. This proves that not only is racism taught, it is taught everywhere and with different “criteria”. Her confusion as a child must have caused her to over analyze her appearance and question how her skin could possibly define her so differently in two separate places. In reality her skin should not have defined her at all and although things may be slightly different now, racial discrimination is still incredibly common.
Your presentation really highlights how challenging it is to move from a “third world country” to a place like America, especially as a child. It was sad to learn that Ortiz-Cofer was automatically viewed as a second class citizen just because of her skin tone. What is even sadder is that it seems like she was aware that everyone else saw her as a second class citizen. It is unfortunate that immigrants have to work double as hard to prove themselves in America.
Hello!
This piece was really interesting for me to read, because understanding Ortiz-Cofer’s experience as a Puerto Rican child in the United States provides insight to the racial divide between people of color and white Americans. It was also interesting to read how as child in Puerto Rico, she was light skinned compared to her peers and in the United States, her perception of herself changed to view herself as dark. I think that listening to the experiences of people of color is a crucial and necessary part to begin to close the drastic racial divide in America, which is still a significant problem today.
Hello Jiang! Your context presentation unpackaged a lot about racism and how it affects minorities. Being told at a young age that you are not good enough can really have an effect on a person. In this case, her parents doing this to her made her believe that she will never be good enough. That her skin color is not superior. This causes a lot of pain and lets us know that she was taught racism. Racism is something that is taught. Reading Erica’s comment was interesting. Racism does not effect only one race. People all over the world are being discriminated against for something. All for different reasons too. Equality is what we need more of in the world today.
Hey Jiang. This reading was very interesting in seeing discrimination told by someone who has been affected by it. Your presentation brought up a lot of key moments in her essay that shaped the way she viewed herself growing up and how discriminatory experiences influenced the way she acted and ultimately changed her personality into a way of thinking where she was inferior to the other white kids that she was surrounded by. To learn of how the actions of others in society can affect a child at that age and what goes through their mind when something like this happens was very heart-breaking to read. Discrimination awareness is a large issue in today’s society that needs to be resolved.
The writing highlights the racism of the past half-century and I think it’s influential in teaching about how racism presents itself to young children. It’s clear that Ortiz is still affected by the circumstances she writes about in her work. Ortiz has a unique clash with racism in her childhood that we can all learn from. While racism isn’t as blatantly widespread as 50 years ago, this writing presents a viewpoint to racism in a general sense that can be useful for those encountering racism today. I wish Ortiz would’ve gone more into depth about how she used these events to shape her character today. That would’ve been insightful for those experiencing this kind of discrimination in today’s society.
Hi Jiang,
I really enjoyed reading your context presentation. Your presentation was very well written and brought a lot of the points that Ortiz Cofer wrote about in her autobiography. I can relate to some of Ortiz Cofer’s stereotypes that’s she faced while in school as well as growing up.
When I was around 13 years old my family moved to the US to find a better future for my siblings and I. When I first started middle school it was very hard fitting in. I was always called the “African new girl”. Comments like that were hard to hear especially when you’re a young girl moving to a whole different culture. Eventually I did end up finding really close friends that I consider my family.
The reading just brought to my attention that even though this happened a while back, doesn’t mean it isn’t still happening. Discrimination is still a huge issue we have to deal with in the US. There are so manny out there that have it way worse than I did, I just hope that the world can learn to co-exist with others.
Hey Jiang, The context presentation you made truly shed a light on a topic that many don’t see because of different reasons. It was clear and really highlighted the main takeaways that Ortiz-Cofer wanted to get across. It is incredibly heartbreaking to hear about the reality of these experiences and injustices, yet so many can relate. I would like to believe that we are taking great steps like this, getting better education on the matter, in order to create a better future. I would not say that we as a whole are completely there, as it continues to happen today. Not so long ago, I was still in a predominantly white high school being academically underestimated because of my skin tone. It is a reality that many continue to blatantly ignore for one reason or another. I believe it is time to continue shedding the light on this issue.
I enjoyed and related to your Blog post, because like you, I was drawn to Judith Ortiz Cofer’s story of coming into her own racial identity. While reading this story, I was reminded how at one time European immigrants, who had identified themselves as a more diverse racial makeup related to the country they came from, came to identify themselves as White after being socialized in America and as a result of racist housing practices. It would also be interesting to see where Fredric Jameson would place Puerto Rico and Ortiz Cofer’s literature in relation to the hierarchy of First, Second, and Third Worlds and how much Aijaz Ahmad would have influenced him, if he were alive today.
I really enjoyed your blog post because the story of Ortiz Cofer’s childhood shows how serious racism is and has been for a very long time. When people talk about racism they normally talk about black and white but it really effects all races. The story also shows that it has nothing to do with personality or characteristics just the color of skin with how her parents held her inside in hopes of keeping her skin lighter. This goes to show how completely absurd racism is and question how it is still around today.
Hi Jiang!
You did a very nice job putting into words your interpretation of the confusion of being, “dark” skinned or “light” skinned. I think that identity struggle must have been extremely difficult, especially during formative years. I also did not pick up on the parents not wanting her skin to tan in the sun as a sign of being lighter as more superior. Great context presentation.