In book, the Puerto Rican immigrants who had In Search of Respect, Philippe Bourgois’s been driven to the street culture and the underground economy of selling drugs were further motivated to accept this lifestyle by the fact that they were not accepted during their school days. Bourgois notes that of family, school, and peer group are crucial to the “the complex interfaces construction and enforcement of social marginalization, especially in years one’s pre-teenage three of them remember experiencing crude jokes and racist comments in (Bourgois 174).” All elementary school more than any other time in their life. Now, they each attribute this racism as a lack of education; that these young children did not understand. It was difficult for me to listen to their stories and imagine how they, as young children who also did not understand, would have felt when other children were making comments about their eyes, and “small eyes, yellow as Thomas put it. Most of the jokes concerned their uniquely Korean physical flat faces,” attributes and Asian ethnicity. Andrew remembered that when he attended school in Alabama, which was more diverse, he experienced little racism. Yet, when he moved to Ohio where “there were many more white kids, the teasing Andrew remember going home to my began.” stated, “I dad frustrated; there was a point when I would just cry to him because kids treated me so In areas where less diversity is present, children in minority groups experience a differently.” greater amount of social marginalization. Thomas, Chris, and Andrew each experienced times during elementary school when they were not accepted due to their Korean heritage. Chris and Andrew each agreed that during school they experienced a phase in which they wished they had not been born Korean due to the ridiculing they experienced. They only wished to fit in, but they soon realized that they could not change their heritage. As they grew older, the blatant racism and stereotyping were not as prevalent. Without constantly fearing that they would not be
In Philippe Bourgois’s book, In Search of Respect, the Puerto Rican immigrants who had been driven to the street culture and the underground economy of selling drugs were further motivated to accept this lifestyle by the fact that they were not accepted during their school days. Bourgois notes that “the complex interfaces of family, school, and peer group are crucial to the construction and enforcement of social marginalization, especially in one’s pre-teenage years (Bourgois 174).” All three of them remember experiencing crude jokes and racist comments in elementary school more than any other time in their life. Now, they each attribute this racism as a lack of education; that these young children did not understand. It was difficult for me to listen to their stories and imagine how they, as young children who also did not understand, would have felt when other children were making comments about their “small eyes, yellow eyes, and flat faces,” as Thomas put it. Most of the jokes concerned their uniquely Korean physical attributes and Asian ethnicity. Andrew remembered that when he attended school in Alabama, which was more diverse, he experienced little racism. Yet, when he moved to Ohio where “there were many more white kids, the teasing began.” Andrew stated, “I remember going home to my dad frustrated; there was a point when I would just cry to him because kids treated me so differently.” In areas where less diversity is present, children in minority groups experience a greater amount of social marginalization. Thomas, Chris, and Andrew each experienced times during elementary school when they were not accepted due to their Korean heritage. Chris and Andrew each agreed that during school they experienced a phase in which they wished they had not been born Korean due to the ridiculing they experienced. They only wished to fit in, but they soon realized that they could not change their heritage. As they grew older, the blatant racism and stereotyping were not as prevalent. Without constantly fearing that they would not be