Today in class we read an article on the Guardian about forced assimilation in America and how it is affecting her and her grandma.

When the journalist was a teenager, she wanted to assimilate as fast as possible. She stopped speaking Spanish, she didn’t want to have a quinceañera and she said that everything in the Latino culture was old-fashioned. She thought that to survive, she had to belong to the community and the country. As she grew up, she realised that Latinos have been assimilating to the American culture for years now. She said that they “look at the brochures for the invisible School of Etiquette and know that we have to work three jobs to afford it.” I think that this is extremely sad that they have to do so much work just to be appreciated and to live life with the rights that most Americans are born with. I think that everyone should have equal rights, no matter their race or gender.

I think that the journalist really believed in assimilation and that it was the right thing to do, but as she got older she realised that her culture is part of what makes her who she is. She talked about how her grandma didn’t care what other people thought, and how she shared her culture with others. I think that this is something that more people should do. We shouldn’t be afraid of how people are going to treat us, we should all be confident enough to show others who we truly are.

How would you feel if you were treaded unequally because of your race?