By snoadmin
I remember the first time I had to fill out a box under the word race. It was for a high school test of some sort that required me to define what my ethnicity was.
Maybe it wasn’t exactly the first time I had to deal with the definition of who I was in the face of society. But when it required solid documentation, I just felt like this was the school system’s way of classifying me by the way I looked, rather than by what I could offer.
Maybe I was going to be categorized under the race that causes the most trouble or the one that creates more offspring than Kevin and Britney (before they parted separate ways).
Maybe they were going to paint a fake moustache and a huge sombrero for my yearbook picture.
Maybe they were going to make me sit through an array of Carlos Mencia’s stand-up routines and figure I’d “get him” because, you know, of my race.
Of course, after having some of mom’s chocolate caliente (or hot chocolate for the Spanish-impaired), I figured I’d better get some study time before I qualified in the Mexican-that-didn’t-graduate box.
Happy National Hispanic Heritage month, and I hope to see you all at the 2007 Latin American Studies Film Series.
