Summary Of Speaking The Unspeakable By Laura Gomez

The Speaking the Unspeakable lecture by Laura Gomez was mostly on the topic of immigration, particularly Hispanic immigrants. A point that was brought up in the lecture was the fact that there is discrimination when it comes to the possession of illegal drugs. To put into context, people of color compared to Whites are more likely to be caught with any amount of drugs and arrested for the possession. They are more likely to be caught because they are already targeted by law enforcement due to the color of their skin and law officials tend to be not as lenient with people of color when they do break a law compared to a White individual. This example of discrimination used by Laura Gomez made me think of an example that was present in the reading

She more than likely came to this conclusion due to the woman being Latino and in a hurry. Jenny quickly put an end to this misconception by stating the woman was rushing to get home to her family. People tend to judge others by what they look like rather than the context of the situation or what may be true in a particular situation. Additionally, since immigration was the main topic of the lecture, racism was obviously a component as well. Racism was mostly described as White individuals discriminating Hispanics or African Americans, however, racism towards African Americans also took place from Hispanics. To elaborate, it was stated in the lecture that in the past, Latinos redressed the discrimination they faced from Whites onto African Americans. The reason for this is seen in white supremacy and the use of psychological wage which is what Latinos have by separating themselves from African Americans. The reasoning for the example above is best explained in the reading “Race and Gender Fallacies” by Gisela Kaplan and Lesley J.