I’m with you
This picture is from rayoandhoney.com via Pintrest
I didn’t know if I should share this story or not, but I am so heartbroken by everything that’s going on right now. To the people of color, I hear you & I stand with you.
I am originally from Mexico, and very proud to be Mexican, but I have lived in the States for most of my life. I have been lucky enough to never really experience any unfair treatment because of where I am from. However, I know that a lot of my fellow immigrants have not experienced the same kindness that I have.
I currently live in Queens, NY, in a building that is technically considered/labeled a luxury building, though it does not really fit that description in my mind, but I will say that we do have a doorman.
Yesterday, I went downstairs to pick up a package. Wearing black oversized sweats, a black oversized t-shirt and my mask. I was standing at the desk waiting for the doorman, who is Dominican, to come back because he was holding the door for an elderly woman leaving the building. A delivery man, also hispanic, walked in and came right up to me and said he needed to deliver the groceries to an apartment on the 10th floor.
Okay…? I thought to myself, why is this man telling me this.
I must have looked confused because he then said “You work here, right?”
“No.”
“You don’t work here??”
“No, I do not work here.”
“Really? You don’t work here?”
“No, sir. I live here.”
I don’t know if I’m just on high alert because of everything that is going on but his assumptions of me based on whatever it was that he based it off of, really offended me. Because I am a hispanic woman, I cannot afford to live here so i must be working here?
Hear me out here - this is NOTHING compared to what black people have to put up with, day in and day out. Nothing at all. But I do know that it made me feel like absolute shit. Can you imagine feeling like that every day, but 10x worse? Every single day. My heart goes out to anyone that has every experiences any kind of racism, and especially to those that have lost a loved one due to police brutality.
I know that these words do not bring back your loved ones. Nor do they really do much of anything for you. I am taking this time to learn more about becoming a better ally. I want to do everything I can to help and support this movement.
To those who are like me, looking for more ways to help and find more resources to learn from- ask questions. Don’t settle for this bullshit. Register to vote. Sign petitions. Listen to podcasts. Support black owned businesses. Educate yourself. My friends have been posting a lot of google docs and resources with links and tags to causes you can support. I’ll link some below.
We have to be better & we have to do better. Black lives fucking matter. Do your part.
