Racism in Academia, BROWN lives matter, Chicana power

Racism, a sensitive and powerful topic, very prominent in today's conversation. Many of us know that is power is still great in this world and its evil shadow lurks around many corners. But it is more prominent than many of us think. How do we combat this evil thing that corrupts so many people, how do we shield ourselves from the retaliation we get from people in positions of power?

I can say I have had my fair share of it growing up in the white mans world, we are in a system made from the white man for the white man to thrive. How can we defeat this system when it was designed for us to fail? Yes, things are put in place for us to have "benefit" over different things but yet it is still the white mans system, so how do we defeat it?

We are still asked "are you here on merit or quota?" What an ignorant question, who are they?

Being brown in America, depending on where you are you have a different story but the evil power of racism is present everywhere you look no matter where you are. Humanity tries to divide us, tries to weaken us by saying we are different, and tries to take advantage of us by holding things over our heads.

It saddens me to know what brutal things happened to my people and people from all of the world, and that it has not seized to exist but continues to happen around the world every day. Men, women and children are all victims of it. The indignation I feel, is not fleeting and it is intense. I despise racism of every form. Lets look at this conversation through a different scope, the beginnings of a place and their governing rules are created by one to favor the creator of the system, looking across societies from around the world have we not seen this time and time again? Look at empires in ancient times (and even now), have we not seen the rule of a society corrupted due to greed and selfishness? The Romans, the Ottoman Empire, the Mogul Empire, all of these have one thing in common, a division of people Division of different forms in society divide and cause strife. Systems created by people that have their prosperity in mind like most living creatures do, created something that ruled/rules the lives of thousands. Where does this division end? Man alone cannot heal such an ailment of humanity.

I can say that my experiences are much different than males treading the same path. Now their are people in academia who embrace the ethnic and racial diversity that is present in their lecture or work place and praise it, but... their are also the people who highly disregard the right that we all have to respect and equality. Cultural difference have a key role in this; however, being around people for a long enough period of time you learn what is appropriate and respectable and you follow through with it to be acceptable to other cultures, this does not mean you have to change who you are but it does mean you become an adaptable person able to adapt to be respectful in every circumstance. [a well rounded citizen of the world if you will]

I have met many white men and women that are kind, respectable and loving towards everyone. But humanity is flawed, we are not perfect. It is a sad reality that we must meet people in this world that have little or no respect for others and treat them like animals or less than worthy of their respect.

Lets transition, lets break the barriers of time and go back to 1931, as we look back I want you to keep a year in mind 1954 the year of Board VS Brown. Here is what Board VS Brown is

"This case was the consolidation of cases arising in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington D.C. relating to the segregation of public schools on the basis of race. In each of the cases, African American students had been denied admittance to certain public schools based on laws allowing public education to be segregated by race. They argued that such segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The plaintiffs were denied relief in the lower courts based on Plessy v. Ferguson, which held that racially segregated public facilities were legal so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal. (This was known as the “separate but equal” doctrine.) "(https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483)

.Racism in academia is a long and brawling story reaching back and forward in history. In the US where did the fight on racism make a mark. Who are the untold hero's that paved the way to make US schools have equal rights.

In history books we many times see desegregation in history as the fight for blacks and whites. A dichotomy of people, a fight of two. Are these the only two colors of people in this world? Do not fail to remember the Chicano, the islander, the Asians, the native, the rest of the human race. In history where dose the rest of humanity fit in. Have you ever heard of brown lives matter? nope, but you know what, back in time a few decades ago there was this movement known as the Chicano movement click the link to read my blog post about it

http://ameamorvoyage.wixsite.com/astro-a-squared/single-post/2017/04/13/Chicanismo-La-RAZA

It really infuriates me, so I look up brown lives matter to see what will pop up, NPR has something, I click on it and I think maybe just maybe it will actually speak to our untold story, in some ways it does but in so many other ways it negates its self. It reports on the dead rise of Latino movements and instead of translating the Spanish portions it says ' speaking in Spanish' like frikin really!!? NPR, stands for National Public Radio, National, this nation is made up of people from around the world and its two most prominent languages are English and Spanish why in the heck can't you translate. It literally makes me so mad i want to cry. SO MADDD!Stop other-ing us!!!

Let me tell you about why our voices need to be heard, we suffer just like the rest of the racially discriminated world, where is our justice!? Let me help push this father, and make the voice of our justice louder on the internet.

I have mentioned before in my post 'Chicanismo, LA RAZA' , as to why is it my peoples story is such an untold novelty. I theorized that since it is a battle that has been fought for hundreds of years it is buried in history making it a check in the book of successes, I then go on to talk about how its not. We are still fighting for equality, and our fight is something that needs to be addressed. Latino men and women are being brutalized just like black Americans, but our voice is silenced, we are a lesser minority? we have less of a voice because of language barriers, and fear for our lives that extends beyond the streets and into laws. LA RAZA where is our voice, find a way to speak up, even if its anonymous, make a voice for yourself and the rest of LA RAZA. We need justice, find the loop hole that allows the Latino movement to be heard, we keep coming and should not be silenced, FIND A WAY. We were here before and we are here now.

Let go back in time to an highly relevant and untold story, the Lemon Grove Incident in 1931, Lemon Grove, California. (Don't forget when did the big one on desegregation in schools happen in the history books? 1954 Board vs Brown)

The Lemon Grove incident is a huge turning point in history that is in most cases not even mentioned or known of by many people It was a case of segregation of Mexican children in Californian schools in the 19030's. This was one of the first desegregation incidents, the principal of the school stood at the door and only let in white students telling the Mexican and Mexican American children to go to a tin building that the white principal called the stable, with two rooms where they Mexican children would be better suited to learn. The children were wrongfully and unjustly turned away, mind you many of them were US citizens. How is this untold by so many schools. Chicano's paved the way for desegregation, yet we are never mentioned, why is this? Why is the Chicano movement 'dead'? where is our voice? Brown lives matter, Black lives matter, Immigrant lives matter. This nation was founded on diversity why are we still facing the same struggles as we did almost a century ago today, have we not learned, I think the issue is we haven't. Before reading this had you ever even heard of the Lemon Grove incident or the Chicano movement? If you have I condone you, share what you know, and if you haven't... my point is strengthened, but don't let it stop there. No matter who you are or what your background, share this information, make a difference give us a voice, change tomorrow for the next generation if not our own.

Even before this case, Chinese immigrants were facing battles in Americas education system. The reason I focus so heavily on the understated Chicano movement and being brown in the US is because Mexico used to span up into today's United States boundary, we were what is now the US. How could a place that was once Mexico ignore and under represent the fight that started in a place that was once Mexico and is now the US?

I recently had a professor who wouldn't even look at me in the eye when I spoke with him yet when a white male spoke with him he shook his hand, acknowledged him and looked at him in the eye while speaking with him. I watched how he treated other students to see if it was just me and nope, white male treated with respect same as last time, brown girl brown boy treated like me. He would look at me suspect when taking a test as if I were cheating, if you know me you know what a good student I am, why would my appearance cause such a fuss for a professor even when my desk was empty and I was near no one. The only thing I could think to do was work harder and do even better.

Never let hate or racism pull you lower, the person that treats you as less is unworthy of such attention, simply take what you came for and be excellent, prove them wrong. People that don't like you want to see you fail so prove them wrong and do even better. As my friend would say "haters don't faze me", don't let them distract you from why you came, instead let them be a motivation for you to be even better, rise above it.

Thank you for reading, make our voice heard, make a difference for the people now and for the people after you. This fight is not only yours or mine, the differences we make to day will echo in eternity and affect our children and our children's children. Don't let it stop here, be an ADELITA in this world of barbies.