A black and white picture

                Time to time, one particular being hears the usual criticism, but do they fall down to the ground and start crying like a baby? Not really, instead they lift their head up high and pretend nothing happened. Referring to the times from the past and the present, nothing has really changed besides the fact that people are able to chew on the criticisms and spit it back at the people who criticize them. Going back to the past, was anyone able to chew on the criticisms and spit it back out? Instead they just swallow it and pretend nothing happened. Why? Because those who were criticized had no power to fight for themselves. In racism, stereotypes, work fields, and education are the biggest obstacles to pass by.                 Stereotypes are embedded in each and every human’s brain. The stereotypical jokes are everywhere in the society today. Watching particular cartoon shows or the news; stereotypes are shown every day. Certain cartoon shows, like Family Guy or American Dad, are shown. We laugh and nod our heads at all the stereotypes shown on that broadcast. Why did we laugh? Is it because it was all true or was it because the scene was funny and we did not stop to think what the true meaning behind the scene meant?                 We laugh because what we see on the two particular cartoon shows are something we see every day and can agree to. Not realizing that that one particular character does not represent millions of that particular race. Another reason why we laugh is because “I would do the same if I saw that particular character” or “I’ve done that before”. Instead of answering those ridiculous thoughts, why not try to put yourself in that situation and see how you would feel if someone turned around because you were African American or Mexican. Or you wore a particular style like other negatively seen races wear. Looking through the news, a black male did this, a black male did that, are heard multiple times on the news; a white male did this, but was not sent to jail, are heard on the news also. Racism takes its play all around the neighborhood. Take an African American, for example, you suspect them to rob or mug someone because of what they are and what they wear. This includes how they talk and act towards others around them, what kind of people they talk to or interact with. Not all African American people act like gangsters who sell drugs and are up to no good. No one can pick on fish out of the pond and say that all the fish are exactly the same. African Americans try their best to be not seen as gangsters, rappers, or murders, but because of the stereotypes everywhere, they can never change many people’s minds.                 Same with the Mexicans or Latinos. You see them near Home Depot, in hopes of getting a job. Because of the stereotypes, many people think Mexicans get married and have multiple kids that look like they are growing a soccer team. Or that all Mexicans have jumped over the border and other excuses to put Mexican race down to the level of animals or worse. Or that Mexicans are taking everyone’s jobs so there are a lot of budget cuts. No one realizes who does the dirty work and gets paid, barely to feed and live up with. No one understands the hard work on feeding a family with such low money, living under a roof with a family, or sleeping with warm blankets at night. Because of the stereotypes today, which all started with racism, has ruined many races and lives. Not all white people are rich and spoiled, nor are all the black people poor and mean. Mexicans don’t take away other people’s jobs, or not all Asians become doctors or lawyers.                 White people, on the news, act just like a savage that appear on the news. They are nothing better or worse than everyone around that one person, but because of the stereotypes seen with white people, they have to be rich, riding in an expensive car, and are spoiled to the max. Now those people who criticize are just too jealous because they can never have all that fame, money, or power. Look around you, not all white people are in good positions either. Maybe time to time you would see a rich white person, but only because that’s all you want to see and hear. Everyone’s expects things that they want to see and hear.                 Asians don’t all become doctors nor do they become lawyers. Not all Asians are smart and go to IVY leagues; and definitely not all Asians have the right sort of mindset. Asians can be rude and too proud of themselves, while other Asians could be laid back and enjoying their life without having so many expectations. Some people always go to an Asian because they think Asians have all the answers and are smart. Look around you, look at that Mexican, top grades and nice, but you don’t want to go and talk to that person because they are not Asian. Take that African American sitting in front of you, very nice, helps you out in every situation yet you don’t want to copy answers from them because they are not Asian. Not all Asians are smart.                 Those dirty jobs like house cleaning, plumbing, or gardening, no one wants those jobs, but you need them. Why? Because you are so lazy to do it by yourself. And when you hire someone, you won’t trust a Mexican because they might take your stuff. You won’t trust an African American because they might take your jewelry. But you will hire a White because they won’t steal anything from you. Wrong! Just thinking like that makes you racist and you say to others that everyone should be treated equally. Well you just contradicted yourself. What shame did you put on your face, liar?                 Looking at the book called “A Lesson Before Dying”, all the black characters had to do the dirty jobs, besides Grant, only because they did not have an education. However, despite having finished school, Grant was still never treated equally as the Whites, but on a level a tiny bit higher than the Black characters. The image of Blacks were dark skinned who did all the Whites dirty work, who cleaned the house, took care of the kids, or took away white females as lovers. As those images passed on through the generations, the racism has become worse than ever. Blacks were nothing, but savages who took away White females away from the White males; Blacks were scary looking because of their skin and all you could see was their teeth and eyes.                 In some plays or theatrical appearances about the Whites and Blacks were always played by a White male, who exaggerates the skin color of the black. They are either murderers who catch up to a White females, in the end committing suicide from fright, or the stereotypical status in the household. Like the Mammy is always dark skinned, fat with big chubby lips, and the “boss” of the White children; or a Sambo who are always cheerfully happy, lazy, irresponsible, or carefree, but not all of the Black people acted like that. Maybe some personalities in this household or that household, but in the end, not every individual are the same.                 As times moved on with the stereotypes and racism, the most difficult obstacles that the African Americans had to pass by were education. Education, the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life; meaning everyone is judged by appearance and actions. Also meaning, no one can be free from the stereotypes seen all around the neighborhood, community, streets, or schools.                 Why must stereotypes ruin people’s lives? Why can’t anyone be able to live in a world where everyone is treated equally despite their race, skin color, and personality? Racism, in general, is the cause for stereotypes, then to work places and to education. Why must everything revolve around racism, when there are millions and millions of people who aren’t one of the stereotypes mentioned above? Each individual try their best to change their image of who they are or what they are. If heard a Mexican last name, anyone would think “Oh, he’s going to sleep with girls, then get them pregnant, have kids that look like a soccer team, and take away our jobs”. Or if heard an Asian last name: “Oh ching chang chang chong is all I hear in class, why can’t they speak English in school?” or “Asians are smart, we should go copy off of them”, or even “Asians are so smart, they get into the best schools and get better degrees for a job”. Many Asians are being limited into colleges because there are just too many of them, so they changed the rules that if an Asian, they must have extracurricular classes.                 Not every Mexican get babies that look like a soccer team, not every Asian are smart and go to good schools, not every African American steal from homes or sell drugs, and definitely not all White people are rich. Do not ever take one stereotypical individual and think that all the same races are the same. In most people’s thoughts, the stereotypes represent the whole race, but that is not true. Everyone has a different personality. Same with fashion or the way they talk. “Do not judge a book by its cover” because you will either like the book or not like the book. If you just judge by the fanciness of the cover, but the book itself is a pain then you have just wasted your time.                 Stereotypes, are not fun to hear, nor are they fun to talk about or is a topic to be talking about.  Everyone is different. May it be female or male, by age, personality, height, race, or religion; everyone is different. In a video called “Off the Pill- Judgement”, the video blogger, Ryan Higa, states: “…if it’s based on looks, or what you heard about them… If you don’t know the person personally, you have no right to judge them… Our minds automatically judge people” So take for an example: “Say that your walking down a street late at night and you see a little girl, just standing there doing nothing. Your initial thoughts are ‘Who is this girl? Is she lost?’. Replace the little girl with a big guy in a hooded jacket. Then your thoughts are ‘Why is there a big guy just sitting there? Maybe he’s a drug dealer…” Ryan Higa states a very clear point. What if that big guy in the hooded jacket has such a smile that can brighten your day? Maybe that big guy could be having a horrible time so he’s just sitting out on the side walk. Don’t judge people.

Looking up at the sky

Every day the sky is over the head of every person, item, or things alive. Everyone lives their day working, studying, or enjoying their hobbies, but no one realizes the ones around them suffering. May it be family or friends, no one cares besides themselves; such selfish people. Look around the neighborhood, communities, and streets; they are full of homeless, seniors, and children that are embarrassed to show that they are homeless. Homeless never wanted to be in that state in the first place, they have made a huge mistake in their living until they realize, it has now been ruined. Many people in that pass by these homeless people, try not to look because of how they look, talk, and act. Not one person realizes that homeless people want to change their way of living, but nothing works out. Yes, they are dirty, not washed or cared for since they look through trash and pick out uneaten food. They even grab whatever comes to hand; may it be blankets, clothing, or other objects that can be used during sleep; and add it to their collection in their cart. They talk to themselves because obviously no one wants to interact with a homeless person since they talk to themselves and are crazy. No one realizes that they are very lonely and are mentally helpless so they talk to themselves. Sometimes when passing by a homeless, people walk faster to avoid being talked to, but if you listen to what the homeless are mumbling, they are actually quite amusing. Sometimes they may talk to themselves about what they should do for the time being, or talk about what music they like to listen to. Homeless people may seem scary to interact with, but they just want to be helped. Their actions may scare some people, anyone who passes by a homeless will start walking faster and faster. They look behind them just in case the homeless were following them. If they aren’t being followed, they go back walking in their normal speed. People sometimes have a talk with the homeless and they can actually get a conversation started with a couple of words or phrases. May it be their hobbies, or what they like to do during their free time, the words turn into sentences, the sentences turn into paragraphs, and the paragraphs turn into a never ending conversation. Listen to the conversation the homeless say to themselves about, they don’t have anything to talk to besides themselves or their ‘imaginary friend’. Time to time they would be talking to a random person that just happen to pass by and start a conversation with the homeless person. Think twice before you want to start walking faster away from the scary yet dirty looking homeless person. A homeless person has feelings, no one just notices it because of the dirt and how they look. Seniors in senior homes look out the window, gazing up at the scenery outside; the blue sky overhead with white puffy clouds that flow by. The birds fly passes by. Or they look out the window to see a butterfly that flutters by, fluttering flower to flower. Or bees buzz around gathering as much pollen as they can possibly hold. The scenery looks as if it came from a photograph; but when the seniors look back to their room, they are living, eating, and sleeping in; they make a huge sigh and start their day. Living in such a lonely environment, seniors want to be communicated instead of knitting, arguing with other people, or just talk to a photograph of a certain person or animal. There are times where they would leave the senior house and roam around in the mini garden provided for them and them only. They take a stroll and make a huge sigh; a sigh of sorrow and anxiousness, waiting to join a loved one, or lift up pressure on their family and themselves. They walk around on the stroll to clear their minds and just feel or breathe in the senior home. Chanting over and over: ‘They will take back. Someday...’ Just like a child waiting for his or her parent to take them back home from school or daycare. The daily meals that the seniors eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are not the greatest meals anyone would eat. Some places have good, delicious food than other places where the dish looked like it was spat on. The seniors, at the senior houses, eat the daily meals provided to them because they could not afford it themselves or they could not make it themselves. They look at their meal and take a bite out from it. Some people say that it tastes good like it does every day, while others complain that they want to eat with their family, at the family table, with delicious food. The seniors blame themselves for not being able to take care of themselves, but other take senior houses for granted. The daily routines that are done every day may be boring, tiring, or frustrating. They can’t go outside for long because of their leg problems, back problems, or other medical reasons so they sit around in their chairs or beds so that their medical problems won’t be a pain. Because they sit around, the time goes by fast after doing their daily routines; may it be knitting, sewing, or arguing with people, the day goes by fast. The next thing they know it, it’s dark outside, with only the night light in their room lighting up the place. The sky is dark blue, tiny flies flying around annoying their sleep, but that won’t do much as soon as they close their eyes and sleep tight. Many people say that children are very outgoing in their young age, maybe because they do not know fear; even if they do they tend to laugh it off and cause more trouble. Nowadays children around the ages of 8-18 are maturing more quickly than the classmates in their classrooms. One because all of a sudden, the house they used to live in is being sold. Two, their personal belongings are being taken away from them; may it be electronic devices, clothing, or furniture. They store those personal belongings in warehouses so when the family pays the debt they are in, they will be able to get everything back. And three, the children think that it is their fault that they lost everything so they are willing to drop out of school and gather money for their family. Children comes back home from school, all happy after being with friends, only to find a sign on their front lawn. They think they went to the wrong house so they pass by it, but the children are sure that they passed their house. They walk back to the house with a sign on the front lawn. They walk up to the door and try to open it with the key provided only to see almost everything have tags on them. Could they be hallucinating? Maybe it was a dream, or so they thought. As soon as their house is gone, their belongings have tags on them meaning the family no longer has possession over the objects. The children are in shock. No games to play, no music to listen to, no people to call or text, and definitely no internet to surf the internet. Everything that they owned besides a couple of clothes is provided to them, everything else is sent to a warehouse until the family is able to take back everything they had lost. So children find themselves working hard, not slacking off in class, and try not to fool around during class. A student who was loud and outgoing all of a sudden became the quiet student that the classmates around the student become plain awkward. Those students who used to be the class clown, turned into the class silence mature quicker than the kids who play around in the class. After hearing that they lost everything and living in such a place that seemed very embarrassing to talk about, the children mature thinking it is their fault that they are living in such a place. Their mind sets off to helping their parents get back what was rightfully theirs so they not study at all and think that they should drop out of school. Parents are out, walking around, hoping to get a job. Blaming themselves for not being able to take care of their family, while the children think it is their fault because they were so spoiled, so to change they want to drop out of school. Look around outside in the neighborhood, town, or streets. These kinds of people are roaming around everywhere. Not one person who could be walking around is on a higher or middle class level. Think twice before judging someone by their appearance because the next thing anyone knows it. It could be you who can become in the same level as those on the streets, blaming themselves for what they have done, looking for food and shelter that they cannot even afford, and not being able to take care of the family they once had; living in a house with laughter and joy. Look out the window and ask yourself, do you really want to live the way you are living now, or would you rather change the way you are and live the better life with no regrets.

Peer Critic for Sunshine

Peer critique 

 

The structure of your story was fine. It was clear and well thought out. I was kind of confused on the first part because the main character does not state who they are. Do not assume people who read your story know who the character is and what background they come from. The story was nice and interesting. You need to work on some grammar and punctuation errors. The audience of the story is also very clear. The meaning of the story is kind of confusing, maybe it is because I'm not much of a fan to read teen romance stories, but to me it was quite confusing. The voice/tone was correctly stated by each different character may it be in third person or first person. The evidence provided shows that you know how each and every character acts because there are people who gets their characters mixed up sometimes. Overall your story was very interesting and I enjoyed reading it.