Twice Towards Justice

By: Karen Carrillo- 11th grade, Washington Prep.

"Another time i had to go to the optometrist downtown. My dad and I got to the office early- I was the very first patient. There was only one chair in the waiting room. The doctor told us to leave and come back at the end of the day. I didn't understand why until I overheard my dad telling my mom when we got home. The optometrist wasn't gonna let me sit in that chair until all the whites had sit in it first. He knew no white patient would ever sit in a chair that he's seen a black sit in." (pg17)
  .
I chose this passage because it's ridiculous how they arrived at the doctor early and had to come back until all of the other patients had sat on the chair. Wouldn't the white people have to sit in that same chair the day after she sat on it? The advice that I would give to a young girl of color growing up in this community 100 years from now is to never give up and always keep fighting for what they believe is right. They should never give up because at the end of the struggle they might accomplish their goal. What I didn't know that I know now before I took this class is that women face a lot of challenges in their daily life, some choose to put up with it meanwhile others fight to hear their voices heard or to keep up with the rest of the world. Many choose to keep silent due to intimidation or because they simply don't want to be judged by the rest of the people. I also learned about HIV within  the young people of color like that Latina women are discouraged to tell their partner to use protection because of machismo and their culture. Some of the many things i also learned in this class is about today's feminism with young women of color, Denim Day, sexual harassment among youth, women remaining docile and subservient like in the movie Real Women have Curves, and stereotypes that people have about other races. I would still like to learn about the women who have been through struggles and have spoken out about it. Are they helping other women face their every day life or are they just happy that they helped themselves. I would also like to learn about people who have fought to make a change in the world and have either failed or succeeded... How did they feel when they were going to take the challenge? Was it emotional for them at a certain point? At the end of the day someone somewhere is fighting to overcome an obstacle and hopefully they get to where they want to.