Post #1 - Innocent vs. Intentional

In class I talked about my story of when I moved to Chicago and was introduced to the class. For those who weren't there or don't remember when I moved to Chicago I transfered to a public school and they made me introduce myself to the class. For those of you who don't know Chicago's primary hispanic demographic was Mexican. I introduced myself as a Cuban-Nicaraguan as I always have. From the back I heard the comment, "Looks like another Mexican in the class." Now this greatly upset me but here's the thing, they weren't racists or anything, they were kids. For the two years that I spent there I got to know them better and discovered that the comment they made was nothing more the kiddy sarcasm of sorts. Something I'm learning is that when someone is new to an area or people they tend to have their own inside traditions and habits and learning to be patient with them is an important part of learning to deal with ethnicity and lifestyles.