People Suck

After reading “Mother Tongue” and “Just Walk On By,” I genuinely feel irritated. Readings like these are 10000% necessary for this confusing world we live in. As a person of color myself, it is just so crazy how the people around you can so easily make you feel like a TOTAL outsider. I don’t understand the reason behind it, nor do I understand why it is literally the year 2020 and people are still facing problems every single day because of the way they talk, look, dress, etc… I admire how Amy Tan didn’t allow people to pave her path, she persevered and became a writer, even after she was told that she was a terrible writer. I unfortunately wasn’t surprised, but still found it ridiculous that somehow the only way her mother’s problems would be solved was if her “non-broken”, English speaking daughter could speak for her. In “Just Walk On By”, the African American man felt obligated to act in certain ways to allow the people around him to feel as if they didn’t need to run away, cross the street, or feel terrified while in his vicinity. This was so frustrating to try and toggle with in my head. Why should anyone have to act a certain way to please strangers, just because of the color of their skin? It does not surprise me anymore when people tell me that they are scared of my dad. When people say stuff like this to me, I literally want to scream. People actually have the nerve to say this to me without even spoken a single word to him. Ugh. I relate to both of these readings too much for my liking… Although it’s not to the same extent, I still am able to recognize the cruelty and unfair treatment people face due to absurd circumstances.