Accent

As I speak to people who don't share my heritage, I feel prouder to say I am a better person everyday. I learn about acceptance, ignorance, culture clash, and everything in between due to my race. Many people don't know how ignorant it is to say, "don't speak Spanish at my house", "I don't speak Mexican", "Your accent is not that strong", and my personal favorite, "You don't look Puerto Rican". I don't find any of these statements as insults, I think of them as lessons, learning opportunities. It makes me sad that some people have the narrow-minded notion that makes them say those things.

I feel sorry for that guy with the blonde mustache and a redneck accent who will play video games even in his fifties that will take the time to "study" the kinds and measurements of rifles and knives. That guy who knows the difference between whiskey and vodka but doesn't bother to learn about Latin people other than what lies inside of the borders of the United States of America. If I take my time to be culturally literate and learn a language that isn't required for me to know, why am I not acknowledged as an equal? Why do I have to accept this? I do this because I am a strong, smart, and positive American citizen with a world to offer.

In this day and age, no one can be a racial supremacist. If they are, they are just harming themselves with their unnecessary ignorance that fills the world with noise. I just pray for those who think they are above others because they'll just need mercy when they face the Lord. As an American, I am truly happy for having a mixed-race president because this gives U.S. citizens a whole new perspective and makes them open their eyes to this modern world full of people who share a nation, a planet, and resources.

I am proud to be an American because it's the nation that gives us the freedom to fight for it within it. I have the freedom to claim what belongs to me as well as others with a voice that won't go unheard. I do this with the hope of enlightening others and end the spread of baseless, useless hate and at the same time I do this to learn things myself. Learn to be tolerant as well. To be polite, respectful, and above all, to honor the citizenship I possess.