"im 17 and go to [school name]. im on the soccer team, and the wrestling team, the two best sports ever! oh and most importantly, im brown, a bean, wetback, mexican, south of the border, alien, illegal, them, whatever u wanna call em haha"
^An exceprt from The Kid With The Braid’s Facebook profile.
A couple years ago, he started braiding one little piece of hair, at the back of his head, on the right side. He’s been letting that one piece grow out, and now it almost brushes down to his shoulder. I don’t know what he’s growing it for. Maybe it’s a cultural or religious thing. Or, you know… maybe he just wants to look like a Jedi apprentice. (A sidenote from Your Faithful Observer: I really hope that the latter is the case. That would be SO awesome.)
Despite the declarations on his Facebook profile, he doesn’t seem to fit the Hispanic/Latino stereotypes, not when you see him around school at least. He’s quiet, gets good grades, takes honors classes, is respectful to the teachers, doesn’t do drugs. For all intents and purposes, he acts like a studious white kid.
You’d think this would set him apart from the other Hispanic kids here—Many of whom, sad to say, actually fit the stereotypes quite well.
But the striking difference in the The Kid With The Braid’s personality from theirs really makes no difference. When the he bumps into another Hispanic kid on campus, his face just lights up with recognition, and the little anti-social bubble he sets himself in suddenly disappears. They start speaking in rapid Spanish, and the Kid With The Braid laughs.
No matter how little he might know the other person, they are friends. Because they share something. They share the same place.
And they’re treated the same way for it by every white kid and white teacher in this fucking place.
They share that, too.
High school is still racially segregated. Everyone thinks that’s something we got rid of decades ago, but it lingers on. Old habits die hard, I suppose. Especially at a school like this one, where—let’s face it—almost everyone is white.
Kids tend to gravitate more towards people of their own race, because those people are the most like the ones they grew up with, and therefore the ones they feel most comfortable around. That’s why most of the minorities stick together, and why all of the Hispanic kids are friends with one another. No matter how cool or nerdy they are, what sports they play, who they date, how they act, they always stick together. There’s something really cool about that. Always having that same place to go back to.
I think a lot of "them" probably need something like that to fall back on. Maybe more than anybody else around here.
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I especially like this post because it reminds me so much of my school. The Mexicans hang out with the Mexicans and the Koreans hang out with the Koreans. The rest of us hang out with our cliques. And it makes sense, like you said. The Koreans share the bond of culture and language. They can't find that culture or language at our school except with each other. And when foreign exchange students come, they find a little bit of home with that group. Similarly, many of the Mexicans are migrant students, and that is a burden that no one can understand unless they go through it. Also, most of them barely speak english. The struggle to get through a day of school is something that none of us white kids could understand. So it makes sense, yes, that they would stick together. But it still makes me sad. I hate that we can be friends in class but not in the quad. I mean, I don't even know where they hang out...
ReplyDeletethis is my favorite one of these that you've written. :) i kind of identify because i'm half white, half mexican. you're an awesome writer, and i'm so glad you're doing this blog again!
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