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She gets told more race “jokes” than anyone else. She’s sure the people find it a funny, but it’s not always fun, and there are tons of other nonracial jokes that she’d rather hear.
Those jokes, the disapproving looks, and the other social cues cause more than just a little discomfort though.
“I feel like we’re not included,” Fran Vanessa said. “When we speak differently, in a way we want to speak in public, people glare at us. So when we try not to include them, they try to stop us, but it’s fine if they do it.”
During the Cinco do Mayo when she danced in front of the school even though a lot of people thought she was part of the Spanish class instead of LIA. Being a different race, she said feels judged a lot. Her intelligence is challenged on a daily basis, and she feels like she has to prove to them that she’s smart.
This problem not only comes up at NS, this feeling of glaring or discrimination, but in all parts of Utah.
“Like if I’m up in Salt Lake and I’m alone in a store, people might stare at me until my parents walk in with me,” sophomore Isabelle Anne Hightower said. “I know why they’re staring at me, and don’t say anything or react. I just walk out because my anxiety gets too bad.”
But that’s just the negative side of it. Other than the jokes Hightower feels like there isn’t much out of the ordinary, her day probably wouldn’t be any different than anyone else. She also has people compliment her skin tone and make her feel confident with it.
Race is a complicated issue, and the color of skin brings different reactions from different people.
Junior Brian Navarro feels like it is difficult, because if you mess up or do anything wrong, then all the eyes are on you.
“It feels like you’re being judged for having a different skin color, so people see you differently,” Navarro said. “It’s also hard to connect with people because of being so different.”
It’s not all negative though; there is a lot of positive that comes out of being different at NS. Some people see you and appreciate your differences.
“I’ve always been super self-conscious about my puffy hair because people make fun of me for it,” Hightower said, “but when I got enough courage to wear it out in the Afro, everyone appreciated it.”
Even though people appreciate the diversity, all students have their groups; people naturally form groups with people of their race.
That being said, many students feel like they have been able to meet others and being able to relate to other races. Like the Mexican mom thing, Vanessa has talked to a Filipino that had the exact fear she did of the belt and the sandal.
“Well you have your little group of white people hang with white people, and Mexicans hang with Mexicans. We don’t often go outside of our race a lot,” Aleksandra Ayala said. “When we do, it’s fun, exciting, but sometimes annoying.”
She feels as it has set a sort of wall of people to hang out with people of their race.
The wall, however, doesn’t exist for everyone, and seeing the diversity at NS has also provided many positives for the school.
“Just seeing some diversity bloom in the school has been great to me,” Navarro said.
All in all, we are all the same. Your skin color may be different. The way you say things may be unusual. You may just have the dream. There is no reason to treat anyone different because of where they come from or how they were born.
