On Anzaldua

Q: write about a time when you felt that someone with authority tried to silence you or criticized the way you spoke.

A: Every year my family and I go to Mexico, to visit family and friends. And there is not one year that I’m not criticized or made fun of the way I speak Spanish. Its saddens me to know that your own people could be so racist towards you and the disillusion when your own family member make fun of your bilingual tongue. The most vivid memory I have about someone with authority tried to silence me was when I went to the optometrist . I arrived to his office with all respect to his practice, because it is a Mexican custom to respect your elderly and speak to them in a proper manner. The doctor was an old, five foot, blue eyed man that only came to my little pueblo every Saturday from Guadalajara. I think he noticed right away that I wasn’t born nor raised in Mexico, he looked at me with disgust like if I was less than he was. So after the very uncomfortable stare he gave me when he called my name, I went inside to his office so we could start with the my eye check. He told me to spell my name out for him because according to him it was spelled incorrectly, so I did I started spelling it out and when It comes to the e and the i in my name I always get them confused, because they sound so alike when you say them in Spanish. He just laughed at me and said that I was a bolillo a bread loaf. At the moment I was dumbfounded. I had no idea why he would call me a bread loaf. I asked him why he called me that and he responded in a arrogant voice “ Your brown from the outside and white from the inside”. I felt so hurt and degraded , I lost all respect for this old man. I told him what was his problem, he told me that I was his problem. That he hates people like me who call them self’s Mexican, and not being able to pronounce simple letters in the alphabet. I tried to defend my self but not being able say some words in Spanish I started to stutter. He laughed proving his point even further. I couldn’t take it so I called my Aunt in, who in the other hand speak fluent perfect Spanish. She told him to back off and that he has no right to tell me that I’m something I’m not. When the doctor saw how mad my Tia he just told us to leave. I was way ahead of him I couldn’t stand seeing someone like him, with so much hate and disgust to their own people. I never went back, but I took that experience ad a learning one. I decided to take Spanish in high school not just for the easy A ,but so that when I go back to Mexico my Spanish will be up to par and run fluently out of my mouth and finally have a summer in Mexico without criticisms