Racial, radical, ridiculous

Racial, radical, ridiculous 

I have tested out an interesting theory over the past four months. Here’s what I have learned;

I have been learning Spanish now for the past nine months. I listen to Latin music, Spanish television and, read online most things in Spanish. I have every item imaginable in my house labeled in Spanish. I have even retrained my puppy her commands in Spanish. During, this time I have practiced embracing my “R’s” instead of hacking them off my words like most people from my area of the country. I have practiced loving vowels and consonants as they roll across my tongue, more softly. I have practiced speaking in Spanish so very much that many times a word will get stuck in my head and I cannot recall it in English because I am making myself remember it in Spanish. Often when I talk I cross between English and Spanish to keep the Spanish in the front of my brain.

If you don’t use it you will lose it.

My words leaving my mouth have begun to form differently from my family and friends. I have to say in the beginning people commented in a joking fashion saying “(h) Julia say carrrrr.” What happened after that began to become hurtful. People stopped being funny and began being disrespectful, rude and down, right hateful. I came to understand a good percentage of time I was surrounded by immature, ignorant, racists.

Here’s why:

I work, associate and know many individuals who speak different ways. I have northern friends who sound like Tim Sample, Southern friends who sound Larry the Cable Guy, Pacific coast friends who sound like valley girls. I worked for a retail company from Minnesota, I have dozens of African American friends who have their own sound, Asian friends, along with Hispanic friends who all have their own ‘sound.’

I have never really picked on someone to the point of being slanderous or racial for their speech. I have joked because they have more ‘R’s’ or  ‘L’s’ or even replace an ‘Sk’s’ with an ‘X’s’ sound…But I have never until recent months ever heard “We are in America!” “Use English!” or been pulled aside by leaders and said “it’s gotta go.” I wrote a paper on this behavior. I began documenting how many times over the past four months I was disrespected or treated unkindly and here are some, staggering number, for you.

4,765 times in four months I was told “We are in America!” or “Use English!”

3, 015 times I have been made fun of by more than one of my co-workers separately or as a group. Where they have repeated back what I have said making fun of my speech.

1,512 times I was insulted in some slanderous fashion such as “I don’t know what she said because it wasn’t English.”

736 times I have had said “I don’t think you know as much Spanish as you say you do.”

Lastly, on average 35 times a day I have experienced one or more forms of harassment since I returned from Guatemala in January of this year.

Well my lovely little peeps here’s a news flash for you. Step off it! Some slanderous comments could be made about you in fact I could rip you to shreds with my words striping you of any form of being at all. But I am above, beyond and uninterested in stooping to your low levels.

The research I have done shows you are a racist and guilty of harassment. Shame on you! This behavior you have displayed in a public arena and in our work place is it illegal and unacceptable. A few of you as my superiors might want to educate yourselves in that before you too jump on the next pick on Juli hour.

I wrote a 35 page report on harassment, and assumptions. You have proven yourselves that note worthy. I never once said I was fluent in Spanish…I merely researched the language and did a little research into harassment of minorities in the work place and discovered I work with one of the largest group of racists I have ever known. I am appalled.

Imagine if I was Latino…Are you proud of yourselves they way you have treated me? The way you have made fun of me? Gossiped behind my back? Making further fun of me when I am not even there to defend myself? You half heart immature bigots…What hurts the most, is not that you made fun of ME, it is to think that I have called you many of you friend.

For the record I aced my paper proving an argument that everyone is racist at some level, and that color, religion and sex are not the only key factors. Truth is some people are just ignorant and rude.