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PREJUDICE-ENFORCING EXPERIENCE Christie BACKGROUND Sex: female Ethnicity: Caucasian Born in: Long Beach, CA Parents born in: USA Up until 1st. grade I lived in San Diego. I moved to the Philippines for 1st through 4th grade. Looking back, those where happy times and I don't remember being prejudice. I was around all different cultures and seemed to get along well with others.   When I returned to San Diego I was in the last half of my 4th grade year. The majority of students where either Hispanic or Asian, Caucasian students were in the minority. All of my friends were Hispanic or Asian. We got along well and I noticed no differences until around 6th grade, when other students began to pick on me because I was white. They would gang up on me and try to intimidate me. Although it was all verbal it really hurt me. I began to hate the fact that I was white. I still hung around with my friends and in my mind I thought of my self as being like them, anything except for what I was "Caucasian." I made up my mind then in 6th grade that I would never like a "white" boy. I was going to marry someone of another race. Someone who’s skin was darker than mine, that way my kids would not have to go through what I was going through. When I went on to Junior high I still felt different than everyone else. I didn’t want to be who I was. I wanted to be like everyone else. I joined an Asian club and told everyone that my dad was Japanese. I guess my way to cop was to surround myself with friends of other backgrounds, that way I could pretend I was just like them. I did end up marrying a Mexican. I have two children who look "white", but if they do get picked on later in life, they can say they are Mexican. To this day I still am in denial and see myself as Mexican. I love my husband’s culture. I feel like I don’t have a culture so I assimilated into his. Reflecting back I think maybe I should have told my teachers that I was being picked on. Maybe then my teachers could have done something to make me feel proud of my race instead of being prejudice against myself. BACK TO MENU | CHRISTIE'S PREJUDICE-REDUCING EXPERIENCE Top of Page Home | Power of Teaching | Believing is Seeing | Truth or Consequences | That Was Fun