Discrimination
Dec 20, 2015 21:06:28 GMT 9
Post by Kattlynn on Dec 20, 2015 21:06:28 GMT 9
Hi All,
I had an odd experience at a local place a few days ago, and I'm not really certain if I handled it well. My family is English/Spanish bilingual in the US, where Latin American Spanish speakers are sometimes not treated as well as one would hope. My son and I were at a climbing gym, as we're kind of novice alpine explorers and we were climbing in an area of the gym that is sometimes used by kids at birthday parties, because it's pretty easy. I was belaying for my son and we were speaking Spanish to each other, as is our custom. A few young boys (ages 10-12ish) started saying things like "OMG did you hear them?" "I think they're speaking Spanish" "How is anyone supposed to understand that". At the time I simply turned to the boys and said that we're perfectly bilingual and understand everything they say. They soon found themselves moving on to another climbing wall and that was the end of the encounter.
My son, who is only a 1st grader, was pretty high up at the time and didn't hear much of what the boys said, so when he rappelled back down he really only heard my comment to the boys and he of course wanted then to talk to the older boys and make friends. After they left he asked me what they had said and I wasn't certain if I should tell him that they were rude boys or saying hurtful things about being a Spanish-speaker. I know my son will encounter a lot of people here in the future who will be prejudicial towards him, but I don't know if I should try to shelter him from that for now or help him identify it and work against it. If then later, what do I tell him? What will make him stronger? This isn't the first time by a long shot that something like this has happened, but I'm not sure whether he's made the connection yet or not and I'm not sure if I want racism and xenophobia to be part of his world yet if I can avoid it. Has anyone else dealt with this? What works for you/your family?
I had an odd experience at a local place a few days ago, and I'm not really certain if I handled it well. My family is English/Spanish bilingual in the US, where Latin American Spanish speakers are sometimes not treated as well as one would hope. My son and I were at a climbing gym, as we're kind of novice alpine explorers and we were climbing in an area of the gym that is sometimes used by kids at birthday parties, because it's pretty easy. I was belaying for my son and we were speaking Spanish to each other, as is our custom. A few young boys (ages 10-12ish) started saying things like "OMG did you hear them?" "I think they're speaking Spanish" "How is anyone supposed to understand that". At the time I simply turned to the boys and said that we're perfectly bilingual and understand everything they say. They soon found themselves moving on to another climbing wall and that was the end of the encounter.
My son, who is only a 1st grader, was pretty high up at the time and didn't hear much of what the boys said, so when he rappelled back down he really only heard my comment to the boys and he of course wanted then to talk to the older boys and make friends. After they left he asked me what they had said and I wasn't certain if I should tell him that they were rude boys or saying hurtful things about being a Spanish-speaker. I know my son will encounter a lot of people here in the future who will be prejudicial towards him, but I don't know if I should try to shelter him from that for now or help him identify it and work against it. If then later, what do I tell him? What will make him stronger? This isn't the first time by a long shot that something like this has happened, but I'm not sure whether he's made the connection yet or not and I'm not sure if I want racism and xenophobia to be part of his world yet if I can avoid it. Has anyone else dealt with this? What works for you/your family?
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