Ignorance is bliss

by Alejandra Molina
LV Life Editor

Hi my name is Alex and I am a racist. According to a person of my own race, that's what I am.

You see I work retail for this wonderful store called JC Penney where the "customer is always right."

So there I was stuck in the customer service section of the Misses Sportswear department with a million people waiting in line.

It was the beginning of yet another stressful day, but of course I was greeting customers with by best optimistic attitude.

For some reason people don't seem to understand where the line begins so they decide to barge in and assume they have the right of way.

Anyway, this middle-aged Mexican woman comes in front of me and hands me her clothes to ring her up, while the line is still there. And of course I do the right thing and tell her to please stand in line. So she struts away with her attitude to stand in line.

Then, she feels the need to walk around the mall and has her husband stand in line for her. Like husband like wife, he goes in front of an associate and expects her to ring him up.

Now we have a little dilemma here.

The woman dashes toward me and hysterically yells at me, with a thick accent, for not serving her and her husband because of their race. Apparently, she felt oppressed because I helped a Caucasian woman first.

Keep in mind that there is still a long line, but somehow silence erupts and all eyes turn on the woman and me.

I stood there with a million thoughts racing through my head. No one had ever accused me of such an irrational thing.

In Spanish, I asked, "Excuse me?"

She looked at me in a different way once I began speaking. I knew she was surprised that I was actually able to speak in Spanish. Wow, that must have been a real big shocker.

Stubbornly, she still acted like the victim, saying that she was tired of always putting up with people like me who place minorities second.

Hello!

Did she not look at me? Did she not hear me?

I guess I didn't exactly fit her standards of a "true Mexican." Maybe I wasn't dark enough, or maybe my Spanish wasn't perfect. Who knows, but this woman had serious issues.

With the up most respect I told her that was a very ignorant comment she was making, especially since we both come from the same place.

And that was enough for her to not say anything anymore.

It's upsetting to think how easy it is for people to judge others without knowing a single thing about them.

If that woman would have known that Spanish is my primary language, and that I did not even know a word of English when I began my schooling, would she have judged me the way she did? Probably not.

Most likely we have the same customs, eat the same food and celebrate the same holidays, but this didn't cross her mind at the time. She chose to speak before thinking, and consequently she felt absurd because she knew she was wrong.

Everyone has been or felt discriminated at one point of their lives, but there are those who choose to dwell upon that and act as if they are the victims of society.

And for those who remain in that state of mind, I truly feel sorry for them. I am sorry that their ignorance is provoking them from living a normal life.

Alejandra Molina, a sophomore journalism major, is LV Life editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ale_molina01@yahoo.com.