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Skin Color In Reginald Mcknight's The Kind Of Light

663 Words3 Pages

With Reginald McKnight's The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas, Clint Oats is not only a new student but he’s also “colored”. Due to his skin color, others around him think profoundly little of him, which pushes him to be victorious. Although his actions show that he can keep up with his classmates, the other two “colored” children make it difficult for him to be taken seriously. While he arranges every effort to show that he cares for his education, the other two children form no effort at all. As a result, Clint feels as if he has to put in extra work not only for himself, but for the other two children in the class. Looking, speaking, or acting in a “different” way from what others are used to make it harder for people to be accepted for the way they are. When I was a high school freshman one of the classes I had to take was Spanish. I for one wasn’t looking forward to this class because I am a Mexican-American who grew up in America in an English speaking home. Although I was born here, my father and his parents are from Mexico. They struggled in life and decided to better themselves by coming to America. Even though I am Mexican I never had to speak Spanish because …show more content…

Whether that was at school, church, or family gatherings there was constantly someone coming up to me speaking in Spanish. When it came to reading the examples out loud in Spanish class, my teacher expected her “native” students to set the example. However, I for one can’t roll my tongue; therefore, not being able to pronounce the Spanish words correctly. As a result, I would purposely mispronounce the words in error to make my point to the teacher that I couldn’t read Spanish. This repeatedly was addition example of not being a “true” Mexican in the eyes of my teacher. Thus, just like Clint, both our teachers expected us to talk in a certain way; however, we both ended up stunning

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Growing up Mexican-American in the United States can be a challenge itself. Throw in the task, of learning two languages, it made for a very confused little girl. There was often times growing up when I wondered why no one, but my family spoke Spanish. Why everyone at school and all my friends spoke this different language. Sometimes it even seemed like I was two different people.

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That is why Filemon Lopez, who is part of the Benito Juarez Civic Association states that they are working hard to teach the Mixtecs their rights, about the importance of health, housing but overall of education. Even in the Madera school district, the importance of education is being advocated for, for teachers such as Carmen Hernandez states that it is important that both children like adults learn both Spanish and English, so that they can later be able to function in an English speaking society, but also so that they can keep their language and their pride in their background. Such as in the lecture about linguistic anthropology lecture that we went over in class, where it was explained that for the most part once English was learned that native languages were used less and less then forgotten, for only a subset of the population usually those who are older are the only ones who maintain the language going until they are gone. That is why Carmen emphasizes the importance of providing bilingual classes for Mixtec adults and children. So that in the future as Apuleyo Guzman states, that he hopes to learn more English so that he can get a better job so that e can get a better job, so that he can better provided for his family and his village, yet also still has his culture, his language and his ties to

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1309 Words | 6 Pages

Historically, certain racial groups have faced systemic discrimination in education, which has resulted in unequal access to resources and opportunities. For example, Black and Hispanic students are more likely to attend underfunded schools and they also face higher rates of disciplinary actions, such as suspensions and expulsions, which can negatively impact their academic progress and mental health. For example in “Pigeons” by Eileen Pollack she states “Pablo Rodriguez, whose parents were migrant farmers and who, in sixth grade could barely read or write or the Buck Brothers, Phil and Gregory, who seemed to get punished for no other reason than being a large and male and black”(Pollack 118). This statement shows how big of a role being born into a certain race impacts the educational opportunities a child can receive in life. As Well as the discrimination a student can face by just being a different race in the text the Buck brothers were seemingly just punished because they were and had different color skin for the rest of the students and this is seen today in school systems where students are mistreated just by how they look.

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“The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named María” by Judith Ortiz Cofer and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan depict the endeavors people take on in an attempt to integrate into society. Cofer demonstrates how stereotypes of Latina women have led others to misjudge her and explains the difficulty she had disassociating herself from those stereotypes. Tan demonstrates that the “broken” English her mother speaks has led others to think less of her and disregard her. One’s appearance instantaneously causes others to judge them. For some it is easier to blend in and be accepted by their community, but what is it that keeps some people from assimilating, and what effect does their otherness have on them?

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They were forced at a young age to forget Spanish and only know English. I have learned that this is not the appropriate way to go about teaching children English. Spanish is a big part of their lives, it makes up who they are so we should not get rid of their Spanish. Bilingual children do well in school so as educators it is important to teach children English but not let them forget their

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As the descriptive details of the narrator's life displays color blindness within America we also have to fight against racial discrimination that we face today that also relates to my novel was trying to explain as our black people or other races need to come together and rise as

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Growing up learning two languages may sometimes be difficult but it will benefit the person learning in many ways. Not only will learning two languages help in getting higher paying jobs, but it will give a better view of both cultures and their history. I agree with Alarid’s statement that Mexican Americans in the United States should learn both English and Spanish. Alarid shares his view on why it is important to learn English and Spanish. Being bilingual is only a way we can prosper in our society by being able to have a better understanding in communicating with our peers.

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There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, and there’s the kind like the Cunningham’s out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes” (258). In To Kill a Mockingbird, the issues of class in the town of Maycomb truly acknowledged the fact that the color of a person’s skin determined their status in

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Almost every day, as the Logan kids came to the Great Faith School, a school bus from the Jefferson Davis School for the white kids came. For the white children’s amusement, their bus driver would splash the black kids with mud. On Little Man’s first day, he cares so much about his cloths, and is experienced, so when the older kids tell him to get in the ditch, he doesn't. The bus comes, and he gets all dirty. Little Man is furious and sad about his clothes.

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Spanish was my first language and neither one of my parents knew english. I would go to school and just listen and try to learn every little thing I could get my hands

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Bayonne, Louisiana is a small town in southern Louisiana that struggles with racism inequality and prejudice between the whites and the blacks. James, the narrator of Earnest Gaines’ “The Sky is Gray”, is an 8-year-old African American boy. It is the 1930’s and, like most families, James’ father is drafted to fight in World War 2. This is ironic because James’ father is forced to fight for the freedom of Americans while at the same time African Americans are being discriminated against throughout the South. In Earnest Gaines’ “The Sky is Gray” a combination of the lessons taught to James by his mother, Octavia, and the first-person narration of James reveal a theme of pride being instilled in a young African American boy, in times of hardship and poverty, that show the coming of age of James.

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Don’t we dislike it when someone is treated different than others? Or when someone different isn’t accepted? This has happened to many people either in school, jobs, and sports. Some are not accepted because of their skin color or maybe religion. For example in “My so called enemy”, the text provides strong information on people accepting other for who they are.

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Treating someone differently because of their race or gender. The version you 're spewing is basically academic jargon that ties into post-modernism and intersectional feminism and attempts to craft a universal theory of everything, ever more convoluted because it has to account for a growing number of inconsistencies and

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In Mexico, my home country, I was able to successfully communicate with others and complete assignments just by the utilizing the Spanish language, but that was not the case on this side of the border. I had to learn a whole new language that seemed to be far different from my natal

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Spanish people like to avoid being embarrassed or receiving any type of disapproval. This is something they share in common with Asian countries. Do everything you must do to keep yourself and others from “losing face”. The Spanish like to seem capable and in command, always, so they will claim that all is perfectly fine as a “face-saving”

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