Quote:
Originally Posted by AshTestDummy
This thread is getting ridiculous.
Anyways, Shrub, I would like to know if people on your team treated you any differently when they found out you were not white, or if you or your brother felt any difference in the way those who knew you were Hispanic and those who thought you were white treated you.
Thank you!
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Hi! Thanks for asking. I was actually starting to write this up so I might as well post it now.
It's kind of obvious I'm not white. People enjoy, or have enjoyed, making a guessing game of my ethnicity. I actually keep tabs of what they ask, and if anyone cares, people usually guess I'm Mexican-American last. Either way, they often follow up with something like "well I'm surprised/glad you're here" i.e. at a robotics event. Of course, they have no ill intent, but that doesn't mean that it is not a microagression.
I felt a difference between my brother and I, because he was also build captain and on our drive team both years he was on the team. This caused people to take what he said a lot more seriously, because he was making stuff happen for lack of better words. My senior year I volunteered at the regionals our team went to. This was a nice change because I was taken a lot more seriously, (seeing as before this I was a scout sometimes and that's about it at events) but it was kind of surprising to realize I was one of few PoC volunteering. It's one of those things that you don't notice until you look back though, because it's so rare to be surrounded by PoC (at least for me) unless they're friends or family.
I really like making it known that I'm there for others. I usually have some kind of sticker or button on at FRC events that says I speak Spanish and French. My grandparents, who don't understand English, loved coming to FRC events during Aerial Assist season because it was so easy to explain and become invested in. I was glad for once I could show them what I was doing in actions and not words.
I have a few friends who may want to share there thoughts through me and I will be posting those as they talk to me about them.