I was referred as a “chipmunk” by one of my White peers. A very blonde, blue-eyed White girl. Let’s call her June. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. You are probably thinking, “Wow, a chipmunk? Someone really called you a chipmunk? Couldn’t June think of a better way to insult you?” To answer your question, yes, June did call me names that were ten times worse than “chipmunk,” but for some reason I always seem to remember that insult the most. It wasn’t the most derogatory comment June ever said about me, but I find it the most amusing comment. I find this comment the most amusing because it shows the ignorance June carries within her, despite the intelligence she possessed, which is a skill that I could never possess, since she …show more content…
My friend, who will be called Maria, told me she had June in her Chemistry class. One day in Math class, Maria looked up at me with her brows deeply furrowed. I figured she was just confused about the assignment we were unsuccessfully attempting to finish. “Hey Imelda, do you know June? You know, the really skinny girl with blonde hair? The one in my Chemistry class?” I simply replied “Yes, she is in my English class, but I have never talked to her before.” “Well, I think she was talking about you. See, she was talking to Maggie, and they were talking about English. Then Maggie said something that I couldn’t hear, and well all I heard from June was ‘I hope that Mexican girl drops the class.’” I am not going to write a bunch of paragraphs stating how horrified I was, but that is how I honestly felt. I kept asking myself, “Why does this girl, who doesn’t even know me, hate me so much? What if the rest of the class feels this way too?” Obviously, this is very dramatic on my part. However, all of my closest friends and family told me that they could relate. In essence, everyone reassured me and said, “I would react the same way, but I would have dropped the