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Jennyfer Delgado
Professor Olivas
English 101
September 29, 2016

The Unresolved Matter of Collective Unity

In American History by Judith Ortiz Cofer, Elena, a young girl of color, finds her
distraction from her judgmental peers by befriending a young boy and watching him live
pleasantly in a nice home. In a sense, she is distracting herself from her reality of being a
minority. Even in todays modern society, people of all age groups undermine others by where
they come from. People do not get to choose the circumstances they are born into, nor the color
of their skin, however, people are still being judged by where they live and by their nationality.
When a human being is born, he or she has no control of the circumstance they are born
into. Elena in American History, comes from a Puerto-Rican family that live in an apartment
structure that houses many socioeconomically disadvantaged families. She had faced negative
judgement because of where she lived and the color of her skin by the mother of her caucasian
friend. For example, the white mother said, You live there? Listen Honey. Eugene doesnt want
to study with you. He is a smart boy. Doesnt need help( J. Ortiz). It is evident that the woman
was prejudging Elena by her appearance. The woman, because of her white race, felt that her
child did not need assistance from a colored girl who was not as high up in the socioeconomic
ladder as they were. It is apparent people make assumptions based on ones appearance, and yet,
even to this day, undermine one another just to make themselves feel superior.

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Sadly, the way people are attacking others racially has developed in other forms
overtime, and one happens to be by social media. Today, people have used the assistance of
Facebook and Twitter as well as other online outlets to let out racist comments. A recent form of
labeling nationalities on social media has found a loophole, so that the own website would not be
able to take down the post. Mexicans are called yahoo, Jews are referred to as skype, and
Muslims are identified as skittles (BuzzfeedNews). If welfare state is given it must go towards
our own who needs. Not no Skypes, Googles or yahoos (Deplorable Anglo). The individual,
who posted this comment, only desires caucasian families to receive help from the government.
The acts of discrimination have only just developed in more forms than in the 1960s due to more
accessibility of technology. In American History Elena combated against verbal racism, but
now there is a new addition, cyber racism.
However, there has been improvements in equality amongst people of color throughout
the time being. The educational system has changed for the better and schools have allowed
people of all ethnicities to share a classroom and learn. There is no toleration for school kids to
bully one another for the color of their skin. Students will be given some sort of punishment such
as suspension, only when and if the altercation has been identified. Also the ability to marry
anyone who are not the same nationality has allowed individuals to share a joyful life together.
Although, the act of people judging others by ones race or the communities they live in has still
to this day not been abandoned completely. In fact, almost forty-nine percent of Americans say,
racism is a big problem in todays Society (The Washington Times). In American History,
Elena was picked on by African American girls that verbally harassed her and it went undetected
by supervisors. Didnt you eat your rice and beans and pork chops for breakfast today? (J

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Ortiz). In relating, social media has only made it easier for people to express their racist
thoughts. As a whole, America has come a long way since segregation, yet the lack of humanity
causes a disagreement with collective equality.
Nonetheless, in American History by Judith Ortiz, Elena was prejudged because of her
home, and her skin color despite of being a normal human being just like every else. The act of
racism has only developed more throughout time due to judgment and discrimination that has
creeped its way into social media. Also, the undetected harassment people take in from others
who differ their nationality. Therefore, the unlawful discriminating judgments still unfortunately
lives on.

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Work Cited Page:

https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-racial-discrimination
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/racist-social-media-users-have-a-new-code-to-avoid-c
ensorshi?utm_term=.dhzLz9aYw#.mojDpOP9V
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/24/49-percent-americans-say-racism-bi
g-problem-societ/
American History by Judith Ortiz Cofer