Personal Narrative: Prejudice And Racism

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When I moved to Irving, Texas I was hired at a learning center as a lead teacher for a particular classroom. I had no idea that I was hired to replace another person who was getting demoted to be my assistant. I didn’t figure that out until this lady, whom is African-American, started making derogatory remarks towards me. She would ask me every morning why my back was all wet and why I smelled like beans. I remember being so angry and hurt because I was always fascinated with the African-American that I watched on television. I was so naïve and couldn’t believe that another minority was being racist towards me. Instead of acting like her and being hurtful towards her, I filed a grievance and she ended up losing her job. I never spoke …show more content…
Regardless of that terrible experience, I chose not to view other African-Americans with same hatred that I saw her with. During this time I met a man, Tony, whom in my entire understanding was white. He would accompany his friend, Marcus, when his friend would pick up his daughter from the learning center; she was one of my students. I was so annoyed because when I was speaking to Marcus about his daughter, Tony would start playing with the children and get them off task; the children were only three years old at the time. I remember complaining to my colleagues about him and how I was going to confront him and ask him not to come into my classroom. My colleagues urged me not to because I would regret it and come off as disrespectful. Well, I had made up my mind and I was going to do it anyway. The next day I stood outside my classroom and when Marcus and Tony arrived I told Tony to wait outside. He looked at me with shock and asked me if I knew who he was. I replied “no”, he then extended his hand and said “I’m Tony Romo …” and I said “I’m Marie Lecea, can you please wait out here while I finish speaking to your friend about his daughter?” He just laughed and said “of course, whatever you say.” The day ended and when I called my dad to tell him about my day’s event