Persistent Inequality in Success

I am lucky in that I am getting a college education especially at a UC considering my background. Most of my life I have lived in heavy concentrated Latino communities because those are the cheapest renting places my parents could afford, the value property in Montclair, CA ranges from $169,000-$227,000. My parents are first generation immigrants to migrate to the United States from Mexico. My parents had struggled in the U.S. since they are limited due to not knowing English and not having completed high school.

As a child I did not understood the racial group stereotypes because no one talked about it. When I attended my first elementary school, I didn’t think anything about being taken out of class, having to attend after school programs, or having to do summer school. It was normal for me. I grew up in a Spanish speaking household, and rarely spoke English with my siblings. I knew English well enough, yet I had to attend the programs. I remember that it was not only me, also my oldest brother, Daniel, who is two years older than me had to attend the same programs. Only the two of us had to attend, unlike my other two siblings. I didn't question. Up to this date I wonder if it had to do with my skin color and not my understanding of the language but because of racial profiling and stereotyping. I wonder because my brother Daniel and I, have brown skin while my sister and my other brother are light skin. They have never been placed in a program to "help them learn English." Daniel and me have always been placed into this programs in every elementary we attended. Even when I attended Montclair High School, the only way I was placed in AVID (a global nonprofit organization dedicated to preparing students for college) was because my brother, Victor, was placed in AVID. If I was not placed in AVID I would have never learned about college and the process of applying since I am the first one in my family to attend college. 

As a result of my background and where I grew up, my chances of going to college were really poor. My social capital was not that good since I was surrounded by individuals who did not finish high school or are working in a minimum wage job. For example, the city I grew up in, Montclair, has a highly concentrated Latino families (68%) living there which the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 19% of Latinos are underemployed and are also second to blacks to be unemployed (Golash-Boza). In Montclair unemployment was 10.3% in 2013 and the percentage of those living in poverty in 2012 was 17.2% (Hispanic/Latino residents was 17.4%). Furthermore, Hispanics have to lowest rating of attending college. The percentage in of individuals that attained a degree of higher education after high school was 19.08% in 2012. 

The type of racism I faced while growing up was structural and institutional. It is structural racism because it perpetuates barriers to opportunities and racial inequality towards Hispanics in Montclair. The city is mostly Hispanic, where the some of the schools are under-funded, and some of the residents are living under the poverty line which leads them to lose opportunities for a good education, quality housing, and good paying jobs. In addition, it is also institutional racism because the children are being tracked in school with programs and standardized testing, and categorizing them to see who is going to be successful or end up like most Hispanic individuals, working in a low paying job with not much of a success in life. For instance, I am the only one from my siblings to be attending college, while they are stuck working in a minimum-wage job.

Racism persist because the system is structured to fail those who are not in power which is mostly color people. Laws and policies are derived from historical system formation in were white individuals in power were trying to keep themselves in positions of power. As time has passed there has been some changes such as the ending slavery, granting civil rights, and implementing some anti-racial policies, yet racism still persist from individual to structural. Furthermore, everything is structured into a system were those who benefits are those in power, they control and influence our behaviors, thoughts, and actions. Who are those in power? Politicians who mostly consist of wealthy white males.They can manipulate other because of their status. In addition, the only way to recognize the reality of racism is through education and discussion, yet those who rarely get pass high school are people of color. Racism occurs so often that people are not conscious in that they propagate and pass along their racial discrimination perspective