"Latin people are so rude."
As I sat down at the airport today, waiting at the gate for my plane to board, these were the words I heard from a white lady that was chatting loudly with her friend as they both sat down on the seats next to mine. "I agree," said the other one, "and they all stink, too." I sat there biting my lip at the racist, stereotypical words I was hearing, breathing in and trying to keep myself centered through meditation practices that I had been starting to engage in a few months back. "Love unconditionally," I said to myself as I looked up and smiled at the two women, "let go of the bad energy and good energy will come to you." The ladies, in return, looked down at me with judging eyes, but still sat down and put down what looked to be really expensive bags and jackets. As they continued to gossip loudly about people they know and people they work with, I raised the volume on my headphones and decided it was best if I just zoned out. As I started to do so, I noticed that there were many other empty seats around us, and I wondered why they specifically chose to sit next to me. That's when I noticed something odd, something that made my insides cringe: I was the only white-looking person at the gate at the time. "It may be a coincidence," I thought as I tried to convince myself that we are all good people inside. At that moment, my mother called me on the phone, and as I said out loud, "Hola mami, ¿como estás?" I noticed the two ladies' judging eyes look directly at me. They started to speak to each other rather secretively, and I tried my best to focus on my mother's words. When I hung up the phone, the ladies went silent. For about 10 more minutes we sat there awkwardly until the flight attendant called passengers to board the plane. I was finally relieved, being able to move far away from the negative vibes of these women, when one of them stood up as I was picking up my stuff from the floor and pushed me. And it wasn't an accidental "I'm sorry" push; it was a threatening, "get out of my way" one. I am usually a shy person and prefer to leave things as they are in order to avoid conflict, but at this particular moment I let my anger take over and asked her in a tired voice, "what did I ever do to you?". What she said next is, to this day, the most horrible comment I've ever heard come out of anyone's mouth, words that I had only heard on movies or Youtube videos but had never been said to me directly: "oh nothing, just coming to this country. You and your latin friends and families are the reason America is falling apart." Her friend giggled. I couldn't believe my ears. I didn't want to believe that there were still people like that in reality, especially women who were old enough to be mothers and were here bulling someone they didn't even know like a pair of mean girls. My eyes filled with tears just when I heard myself say out loud, "no ma'am, people like you are the reason your country is the way you say it is." I didn't give her a chance to respond as I quickly rushed to the bathroom to dry my eyes up while they murmured between them as I walked away. I wasn't gonna let them win, I wasn't gonna let them see me cry; I was going to board that plane with my head up, sit down, and write this post that today I share with the rest of the world.
Let's not let another soul get scarred by words like the ones I heard today. We deserve a world that respects and understands each individual, culture, and community and what they value and believe in. Let us fight for the world we deserve; we are better and stronger, and we have the power to make a change.
Check out my new project, Vote World 2016 (@voteworld2016) on Facebook and Instagram to learn how the US 2016 Presidential Elections will affect not only America, but the rest of the world as well; we hope it can assist as a first step towards a more united global nation . Get informed and let your voice be heard. #voteworld2016
Picture Taken From https://www.google.com/search?q=airport&espv=2&biw=1271&bih=725&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiii5O9hPLPAhUJeCYKHcO7BO0Q_AUICCgD#imgrc=Wf1MfxIe-P3-YM%3A
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