Unfortunately, there is much bias and prejudice that I am being faced with. Currently, I face alot of racism. I am a Puerto Rican living in North Carolina. I have lived in NYC all of my life and for the first time am living down South. People have made racist remarks to me thinking I am Mexican. I have been so disgusted with people's ignorance especially because PR is a commonwealth of the USA. All Puerto Ricans are American citizens. Yet, I have been treated like an illegal in my own country. Also, I am experiencing classism. My husband is a doctor and we have struggled to come to this point in our lives. My hubby grew up in the projects of Bklyn, NY and has worked his way to his current success. But somehow the media and current thinking makes it seem that because we are successful either we don't deserve it or we should pay more money because we made good choices. I think your life is a product of the choices that you make. Even though my husband was raised by a single mom in the projects, he stayed focus and studied. Why people think they deserve a handout I don't know? But it is more complicated than just that because the dominant culture doesn't know what to make of us because we are educated and Latino. In their eyes, I think they see us as the exception to the rule. And our Latino people think we owe them something. It gets very frustrating.
I find that I have become more aware and sensitive to others' perceptions of me. In my professional practice, I don't want to be hired because I will be the token Latino and a quota needs to be met.
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