This month, like every other month, has brought a whole new set of experiences regarding microaggressions, racism, discrimination and tokenism in my life. However, I feel like people have been exceptionally passive lately. The more I converse with the people around me about the necessity of a revolution in the way we think and act, the more I realize that people speak such empty words about activism.

I’m being very vague. Let me provide you with some sobering, concrete examples.

Recently, I started reading a book for a class that CLAIMS to be “postcolonial,” despite assigning 5/6 novels by white women. So I’m reading this book, and the writer starts making really problematic comparisons between animals and people. She literally calls prairie dogs “the untouchables,” and she compares their existence to “fists raised to the sky,” unmistakable black power movement imagery. Before I got to page 100, I had marked ten instances that made included racist/problematic rhetoric.

I went to my professor’s office hours, and I explained to her why I didn’t want to finish the book. She acted very concerned but ended up saying really condescending things like “maybe you’ll get to the point where you can read this book in the future,” as if I wasn’t mature enough to read racist literature.

The most frustrating part of our meeting happened when I expressed frustration about problematic comments made in class that went unchecked, and she told me that she heard them too.

The gif accurately mirrors my reaction to her statement.

This is almost worse, now. You hear the comments. You understand the issues with them. Then, in a classic ignorant-white-person fashion, you decide on silence, passivity, and inaction. GREAT.

She even went as far as saying she didn’t want to be “confrontational” when responding to these ignorant comments.

I understand choosing the methods of communication carefully in order to maximize effectiveness. However, she has sacrificed a safe classroom and prioritized her own methods. Fine. If that’s the decision she has made, I suppose I’ll have to deal with it. But I won’t stay quiet in her class.

A few days later, I was sitting in my class about Renaissance literature, and my teacher insisted on analyzing the minute differences in each printing of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” I asked my professor if these differences had any meaning, since printing in the 1600s was a process prone to error. He admitted I was right. Victory.

Wrong. A girl sitting behind me said something about how it’s fair to critique the literary canon, but “don’t you read Shakespeare and think that he perfectly sums up the human experience?”

Shakespeare is a white man, and can only discuss his own experiences. He will never know what it’s like to be any other person in the whole world. When I explained this, some white guy shot back “it’s not about ra-”

“It’s not about race, it’s about being human.” I explained to him that the intention of eurocentric, patriarchal discourse is to make people think that the white man’s experience can extend to all; in reality, this ignores the nuance of nonwhite people and other diverse groups. I realized at one point in the “discussion,” I was sitting in the middle of the classroom with people from all corners of the room throwing shit towards me, discounting my words, invalidating my message.

I looked to my professor for affirmation, and he decided to change the fucking subject.

He didn’t even address anything I said, and just moved the fuck on.

His reaction was honestly worse than arguing against anything I had to say, because he gave me the impression that he could not care less. My words meant nothing, and he clearly did not want to waste time responding to me.

So I no longer participate in class.

Since April is Sexual Assault Activism Month, let’s talk about this school’s “activism.”

I’m tired of the “It’s On Us” campaign against sexual assault on college campuses. The empty slogan places the responsibility of prevention on bystander intervention, when most sexual assaults on our campus (and in general) happened in a residence hall or private housing situation, and by an acquaintance. Realistically, bystander intervention is not the most effective way to prevent these assaults.

It’s not on “us,” it’s on rapists and predators to NOT assault people. The university’s approach reflects an avoidance and misunderstanding of the nature of the problem, and they seem to just want students to take care of it themselves.

I’m done with people who knowingly hang out with rapists.

I’m so sick of the people around me choosing inaction.

I’m so frustrated with people who approach me after class to tell me they agreed with me, but didn’t actually speak up in class to support my ideas.

I’m tired of people who claim to understand racism and other forms of discrimination, and don’t speak out when they hear or see acts of prejudice.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, DAMMIT. BE PROACTIVE. MAKE THE CHOICE TO RESIST. 

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” is included in the writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This bimonthly column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves. 

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With anything in life you already have preconceived ideas and stereotypes about that topic, whether it’s a person or an object. We use these ideas (either told to us by our parents, our friends, or the media) in order to go through life. For this article, I have decided to gather five myths that people have about Hispanics and Latinos and debunk them. While this isn’t an attempt to make you feel bad about believing them, this is an attempt to open your mind. These aren’t the only myths about Latinos, but they are the most common ones heard.

Myth #1: All Immigrants are from Mexico

To a large number of people whenever they see a brown person they think, “They must be Mexican” and happily go about their day. Unless they are racist. Then they are angry for the rest of day. I’m guessing. I’ve never hung out with a racist before (for obvious reasons).

A percentage of the time, this person would be right. However, Mexicans don’t make up 100% of the Latino group (that would be outrageous). Immigrants who come to the United States for a better life are also from Cuba, Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, and many other countries that belong to Latin America. Assuming that someone with brown skin is Mexican is hurtful for many reasons.

I should also point out that not all immigrants come from Latin American countries. A number of immigrants come from European and Asian countries. The fact that some people tend to ignore this fact is disappointing. As of today the vast majority of us are descended from immigrants.  At one point or another, our ancestors emigrated from one place to another. So the next time you say or think, “All immigrants are Mexican” pause for a second and ask yourself if your ancestral family were Mexican. If your answer is no then you realize that statement is false.

Myth #2: All Latinos are immigrants

Immigration is something that has become associated with the Latino community. The majority of the year, Hispanics and Latinos aren’t talked about (to the point of being ignored) and then someone says the word immigration and suddenly it turns into a “who-can-give-Latinos-the-most-insults-in-the-least-amount-of-time-possible” game.

One key thing that people believe is that ALL Latinos are immigrants. Well I am Latina but I am not an immigrant. Before you say “well your parents are immigrants,” yes, yes they are. Both my mother and my father were born and raised in Mexico. On the contrary, I was born in Iowa City, Iowa and raised in a small Iowan town. I have been and am currently being educated in the U.S. My home country is the United States. The word immigrant means “a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.” The United States isn’t a foreign country to me. Therefore, I am not an immigrant. The children of Latino immigrants aren’t immigrants by default.

Myth #3: All undocumented immigrants are Latino

Keeping with the theme of immigration, let’s talk about undocumented immigrants. My guess is that your first thought was “Mexicans” or “Latinos” While I won’t deny that the majority of undocumented immigrants are from Mexico and Latin American countries, we can’t ignore the fact that undocumented immigrants come from all over the world: Asia, Europe, Canada, Africa and other countries add to the number of undocumented immigrants. So saying “Deport all the illegals to Mexico!” isn’t going to do much good since there will be a large number of Asians and Europeans walking around Mexico all confused (it would be kind of funny but a bad funny).

Myth #4: All Latinos look the same.

This one makes me laugh all the time. Reason? Look at this photo.

Not only do (white) people say that all Latinos look the same but also that all Asians look the same. So I hear that and then I see this. When I looked at the top left picture I thought Matt Bomer was on there twice. He’s not. Or maybe he is to be completely honest I’m still not 100% certain if he is or not. Which basically proves my point. I think a majority of people who share a similar heritage background tend to have similar features and I’m not denying that some Latinos do tend to have similar characteristics but that doesn’t mean that ALL Latinos look alike. As an example look at these pictures below and pick out the Latina.

If you only picked Sofia Vergara, who is of Colombian decent, you are 1/3 correct. The other two? They are also Latina. Sara Paxton’s mom was born in Mexico and raised there. Alexis Bledel  has both Mexican and Argentinian heritage. To be honest, I didn’t know Alexis Bledel and Sara Paxton were Latina until I looked at the Huffington Post’s article titled 27 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Latino, which goes to show that we shouldn’t make judgments based on people’s looks.

Myth #5: All Latinos speak Spanish

In my March article, titled Difference in Spanish Dialects , I mentioned that the term, Hispanic, is in reference to language (aka Spanish). Latino is in reference to the geographical location of a country aka south of the United States.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because a country in Latin America can be both a Hispanic country and a Latin country. However, a country in Latin America can be a Latin country but NOT a Hispanic country. Let me use an example. Brazil is a country in South America but the people of Brazil (Brazilians) don’t speak Spanish.

*GASP.* They speak Portuguese. Brazilians are Latinos and they don’t speak Spanish and there are other countries in Latin America in which the people don’t speak Spanish. There are also people who descend from a Hispanic country and don’t speak Spanish.

*GASP* As children of native Spanish speakers we are put into English-speaking schools, with English-speaking classmates, where the only language spoken is English (sometimes Spanish, but it’s done mockingly). Some native Spanish speakers then decide that they aren’t going to teach their children Spanish in order to help them fit in better with U.S. society. Thus while this child is a Latino or Latina they may not speak Spanish.

Conclusion: Myths about a culture or a group of people are typically false. It is our job to research and discover the truth of certain myths. While these five myths aren’t the only myths that Latinos have to deal with, starting with these is a good start.

It’s important to get to know others for who they are as a person and not by the color of the skin. While that phrase has been uttered countless times its still important. Some people (white) may think there is no racism. A little secret: even if you don’t see the racism outright, it’s there. It’s underneath the surface and with it comes stereotypes and prejudices about others whose skin isn’t white. Hearing others out and ignoring the myths is something we ALL need to work on if we want America to be great.

P.S. Notice how I didn’t put “again”. Taking into account U.S.A. history when was America was great? When Christopher Columbus stepped off his boat and murdered thousands?

Or how about when millions of people were forcibly taken from their native country and forced into slavery because the white man was too lazy to do his own work and they were deemed as inhuman so that the white man could justify his reasoning for slavery?

Or after being freed of slavery, the same group of people was still deemed as inhuman and weren’t given civil rights? Something they still struggle with today!

There are other instances in history in which the moral landscape has changed to accommodate it for the white man. When has America ever been great? The myth that white is better has torn this country apart from the moment that Columbus “discovered” America. In order for America to FINALLY be great we MUST listen to each other and we MUST debunk the myths we have of others.

For a great read, check out James W. Loewen’s book Lies My Teacher Told Me. It will be worth your time and it will open your mind, I promise.

Check out these 5 scary myths aka the scary monsters Latino parents use to scare their children into behaving. Some of these I had no idea about which goes to show that even though Latino cultures share similarities we have our differences. Enjoy!

If you want to express an opinion or idea or give me a topic about Hispanics/Latinos you want discussed feel free to contact me at laura-jaime@uiowa.edu

This is the sixth article of the column titled “Living in White America.” Every month there will be a new article discussing how one immigrant group, Hispanics/Latinos, live in America. This column will have articles dealing with anything and everything that concerns Hispanics/Latinos, this could include political and social talks. Some articles may discuss a culture of a different Hispanic/Latino group and interviews with a variety of Hispanics /Latinos will be added as well as interviews with non-Hispanics asking for their opinion. Discrimination against Hispanics and Latinos has gone on long enough and now it’s time people get a look into a world they dislike so much. 

The post Living in White America: 5 Myths About Latinos appeared first on KRUI Radio.

When I moved to Iowa City to attend the University of Iowa, which is known for being a VERY liberal campus, I was surprised to find that I was still hearing homophobic comments and racial slurs on a daily basis like I did back in high school.

I am from very suburban town in Iowa so it was no surprise that my high school consisted of primarily white students with barely any minorities or openly gay people. Anyway, I figured when I came here that people would be more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community and minorities, but boy, was I wrong.

I can remember one of the first Fridays of the semester when I was at a house party and I heard a frat boy call another kid a f*g.

It wasn’t in a joking way (which isn’t okay either) but in a way where he actually meant it. I was instantly filled with rage and walked my pissed-off ass right over to him and asked,”what the fuck did you just say to him?” The frat boy who had been hitting on me earlier in the night looked scared for his life (I can be pretty intimidating when I’m angry). He tried to play it off like a joke but I cut him off and continued to ream his ass on why he’s an ignorant asshole and told him if I heard him say it again that I would not be afraid to teach him a lesson. Admitted I had a few drinks in my system but I do not tolerate ignorant-ass people, especially frat guys.

This brings me to why I have RBF (Resting Bitch Face) because there are still racist and homophobic

people, especially college students, in this world. Like honestly people, it is 2016 get over yourself and your ass-backwards beliefs. Stop making excuses for yourself by saying, “it’s how I was raised.” That’s bull crap. There are plenty of people out there that have different beliefs than their parents or grandparents. There is no reason why you should call someone a name or be rude to someone for something they cannot change. Using racial slurs or making anti-gay comments to them will not change who they are so get over it.

You may say, “what they do is disgusting and immoral” when referring to gay marriage but is it really any of your business? In the wise words of Jenna Marbles, “What the fuck do you care what other people do with their genitals?”. Does it really affect you that much that you have to make it clear to everyone that it bothers you? It is legal and there is nothing you can do about it, get with the program.

On a daily basis I hear comments about the international students on campus specifically the ones from Asia. One the particularly grinds my gears was from one of my personal friends when she said, “why don’t they

just speak English? It really irritates me that they don’t” as we passed a group of Chinese students speaking to each other in Mandarin. I immediately gave her a look that resembled the picture on the right. After staring at her in amazement because of the comment she just made, I proceeded to ask her why we speak English even though we can speak Spanish and she said “well because English is the language we always speak” and I responded with one simple word. “Exactly.” That shut her right up, and she never said anything like that in front of me again.

But seriously though, it never ceases to amaze me that there are still Americans out there who think all other people in our country should speak English just because they cannot understand what they are saying. Well, all I have to say to that is why don’t you learn their language instead of being a typical lazy American and expecting everybody to bow to your wants??

That was a tad more ranting than usual but I am sure I’m not the only one who feels strongly about this subject. It is a serious issue that is very relevant in today’s society especially among our youth. If we do not teach the young people of this country and the world to be more tolerant of people that may be different than them, we’re screwed. So please raise your future children to be kind and tolerant human beings; you’ll be glad you did.

The post Reasons for the Resting Bitch Face: Homophobes and Racists appeared first on KRUI Radio.