My Misinformation

While my mom’s negative experienced scarred her from joining another homeschool group until eight years later, she never used that negative experience to mold our perceptions about white people. While she definitely taught me that not everyone will accept me due to the color of my skin, she also taught me that I was never allowed to judge someone else by the same quota. Everyone should be judged by character and character alone, and that is a proverb that I will forever live by. While her cupcakes were left untouched, she used the experience to blaze a fire in my heart; a fire full of love, forgiveness and

There were whole families of this different race that I hadn’t had much experience with. Of course, I didn’t see anything wrong with them, I was just unaware at how many people of the different color were in the same place at the same time. Being in the second or third grade, they try not to bring racism up nearly as much so I wasn’t fully knowledge on why they were different, and I was unaware that they got treated badly. Well I was just about to learn all about this simple, or not so simple word, racism.

At the age of six, one of my first memories is my mother walking down the street, holding my hand, and being verbally assaulted by a women, saying that people with my skin color do not belong

“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” The words of the great Jimmy Valvano. Jimmy was a Men’s Basketball Coach at N.C. State University. He is one of the greatest coaches of all time. But he is also the man who delivered the “Never Give Up” speech at the ESPY Awards in 1993. This has inspired so many people. It’s the thought of Cancer that often brings Jimmy into mind. Stuart Scott is also very inspirational when it comes to cancer. A real inspiration is Mrs. Spatz. She has beat cancer 4 times. Over and over again, she has fought and beat cancer. She is now a teacher at Wyndcroft Private School in Pottstown. Although she is my mother, she creates inspiration for many

There are five words I grew up hearing continuously spoken from the mouths of my parents “Don’t take things for granted.” Unlike what many of my black friends or just black people in general can say, I grew up with everything I could ever ask for and more. My parents don’t consider themselves wealthy; instead they prefer the word comfortable. My mother grew up in segregated schools, but she also grew up in desegregated schools, of which her experience she said wasn’t bad for her. In 5th grade when they first combined whites and blacks it was just her and this other black boy in class and the both of them together were mistaken for being white because of how light their skin was. My father on the other hand had it much worse than my mother segregated or not. The stories he speaks of still to this day

I never really thought I would be involved with cancer in the way I am now, as in being a student in

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” I try to live by this quote by Charles R. Swindoll every day. I feel that this is a strong quote with a lot of meaning behind it and, it can be interpreted in many ways. In my opinion, we should see things in a positive way all the time. We also should do what we love every day because you never know how close you are to the end.

“Don’t say that! Your father isn’t racist, racist is lynching a black man, and killing jewish babies. Your father was only joking.”, responds my mother, who has a similar reaction every time one of us says the other was being racist. This was spurred when a black guy walked past our car at a red light. This story is a perfect example of the outside perspectives of discrimination.

It is often said that kids don’t usually understand race or racism, and that is true until Janie is met with kids who have faced oppression all their lives. Janie is a young girl who is raised by her grandmother in the deep South during the 1930’s. Janie lives among many white kids and doesn’t realize that she is not white until she sees a photo of the children and cannot identify herself in the picture. “Dat’s where Ah wuz s’posed to be, but Ah couldn’t recognize dat dark chile as me. So Ah ast, ‘where is me?’ Ah don’t see me’”(9). Janie didn’t know that she was a black girl because she had always been treated the same as the white kids, and they never treated her any differently than anyone else. The only kids that ever abused her with their words were the other black kids at school, they always teased her for living in

Which is being a shy small town girl who never wanted to speak in front of people because of fear of what they think or say. Years after her diagnosis she has become one of the most well know breast cancer activist in the United States. She believes that God brought her through the cancer the first time and used it for good. She also believes that the cancer has made her marriage and family stronger. Cancer can cause depression, body image issues, anxiety and fear, but your attitude about your diagnosis can make a big difference during your treatment. Always try to stay positive and when you you’re a survivor try to make a difference to help

I was abused from the age of three till I was twelve and removed from the home. The reason that I am adding this in this story is to explain a few things. One, I had difficulties trusting in people. Throughout my life I realized that people will fail you in many ways. Secondly, most survivors of child abuse can go through life without realizing that they suffer from after effects such as PTSD, and sever depression. Also, I came from poverty, so I know what it feels like to be stereotyped, and not fit in with what society deems “normal”. It was this little bundle of fur that showed me how to smile and laugh without fear of consequences. I rediscovered the gift of happiness and love. The loss of my best friend inspired me to share his story, and similar stories. He was the poster child for the bully

“Don’t listen to them,” my grandmother said as she wiped the tears from my face and ran her fingers through my long, black hair. I remember the constant teasing from my peers in elementary school. Growing up in a predominately white neighborhood, my family and I were looked at differently because we were “people of color.” All of the parents who would drop their children off for school in the morning would stare at my father. Growing up, it was incredibly difficult to figure out who I was because I was Mexican and Caucasian with a Puerto Rican step father who raised me since I was three. Thus, his culture heavily influenced me as well. At family parties I was spoken to in English and Spanish with both Mexican and Puerto Rican dialects.

This was the first time that I felt the wrath of racism. The ignorance, hate, and annoyance that I felt as an eight year old that day scarred me for a long time. When I went home and cried to my sister about it, she told me that there will always be people like that in this world, and that there will be three times that many kind people. Instead of feeling fear and hostility, this optimistic message pushed me forward to be more hopeful. As I grew older, I took all the adversities I faced, and fought against them. I did not just want to ignore my feelings and hide away because I knew that somewhere in the world, there were others fighting the same racist battle. Instead, I began to participate in campaigns against bullying and racism to make a true impact and change in the world.

“Families don’t have to match. You don’t have to look like someone else to love them,” says Leigh Anne Tuohy. Throughout human history, racism has prevailed and it may be defined as, discrimination based on the belief that one’s race is superior to another. This has influenced, slavery, wars, the formation of nations and legal codes, although slavery has been abolished, racisms has never perished. When the coaches of Briarcrest High school realized Michael Oher, an African American 16-year-old, had no shelter, they provided him to stay with both white and black families over the duration of four months. Even though he had shelter with other families, he didn’t feel as welcomed. Michael Oher said, "When I moved in with Leigh Anne and Sean,

As I reflect on my own family and upbringing, I am astonished by certain remembered dialogues of my past pertaining to the belittlement of minorities. I vividly remember my first introduction to ‘White Castle’ burgers when I was a child. I came home with my mother and explained to my grandmother where we had come from. My grandmother had remarked to me that I shouldn’t eat from that restaurant as “that’s where all the black go”. It is necessary to note that these ideologies are mutual among all of my grandparents. My grandparents (all of which originate from Queens and Brooklyn) revel in