Hated for being brown -Grecia Jimenez

  On October 25th, Janet Sabriu was yet another victim of hate speech and racism from an angry white person. The man, later identified as Kevin, is shown screaming from his car window, "Learn english" and "It's my country." These are only some of the hateful remarks Kevin shouted. He also said “Trump’s deporting your illegal cousins, today, b----.” and continues to use profanity and shout obsenities throughout the video. Sabriu is a Houston resident of 9 years and a US citizen who was on her way to vote that afternoon. Her two year-old daughter watched from the back seat as this man insulted her and ordered her to leave the US.
  Way too many times we see or hear about POC being insulted, degraded, and dehumanized for having a different skin tone or speaking another languague. I, as a young brown girl,  am tired of this happening to my friends, family and even strangers. We as a community are done with the hate and the mistreatment for speaking words in a toungue they do not understand, for being brown, for being from another country with a different culture and customs. The situations that Janet, and many others, have to face are examples of colorism because immigrants of darker complexions are more likely to be pulled over and asked for documents just looking different. I have faced many situations throughout my life where people tell me to "stop playing victim" because it "does not affetct me directly" or to "stop being so sensitive". The thing is, it does affect me, it affects me because everyday when I wake up, I wake up with my dark skin and my dark eyes and puffy curly hair, which obviously sets me apart from my fair skinned friends and siblings. My skin color makes me more susceptible to colorism and to being told to "go back to my country". My fathers skin color is what makes me fear that one day, I might go home to face that I no longer have him. My mother's limited english makes me fear that she might be verbally assaulted while she goes shopping for groceries. This situation does affect us directly, because our family could be next.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/10/29/trumps-deporting-your-illegal-cousins-today-man-shouts-mother-who-was-her-way-vote/?utm_term=.e7dd34c5f7df