Look at Your Hands/Lourdes

This chapter really enlightened me on what people really think about themselves when it comes to race and ethnicity. Mr. Michie and Bob decided on a method of teaching called Team Teaching. They decided to start the school year off by asking the students their opinion on what they thought a Mexican, American and a Mexican-America is. The students had some interesting responses. Some students said that Americans are white, rich, goal achieving and racist of all other races. The said that a Mexican-American was a Mexican born in the U.S. A few students said that Mexicans are poor, uneducated, bean eating and Spanish speaking brazers. Mr. Michie found out that the students call anyone who just came from Mexico, who is considered too Mexican, cannot speak English, do not wear expensive shoes and is not Americanized, a brazer. A brazer is what the white bosses use to call the Mexican workers that were sent here, to the U.S., to work in the mines and fields under the Braceros Program.
With this knowledge, it was shocking to find out that some students felt like they did not fall under any of the titles, while others claimed that they were Mexican and that they just live in America.
The students did not use books that semester, they learned from each other, short stories and films. The one thing that stuck out to me the most in this chapter was the lesson Mr. Michie learned when he was having a bad day. Bob was out sick, which forced Mr. Michie workload to increase. He embarrassed a student who was not prepared for a presentation that he was given an extra day to complete the work. Mr. Michie used the student as an example by making him stand in front of the class for his fellow classmates to stare at him. The student was about to cry, so Mr. Michie made him meet him in the hall. Mr. Michie later found out that the student was unprepared due his grandmother being in the hospital for the past few weeks. He apologized to Mr. Michie and told him that he has been coming straight from the hospital to school. Mr. Michie felt very bad, so he genuinely apologized. The student did not talk to Mr. Michie for weeks.
Even though we are having a bad day, does not mean we should take it out on someone else, especially our students. Everyone has a bad day every now and then, but we must keep in mind that we are professionals. Plus, all Mr. Michie had to do is ask one simple question “Why?!” and all of this could have been avoided.
Lourdes is a Mexican who loves being Mexican. She loves everything about her Mexican culture and neighborhood. She loved the loud music being played the streets and that people were always out mingling. Lourdes was not happy with the decision her parents made to move her and her brother out of the apt into a house that was in a mostly white subdivision. The people there, to her, were unwelcoming and neighborhood was too quiet. When they moved in a neighbor stopped by and stereotyped them based off the previous Mexicans that lived there. This made Lourdes sad and left her wanting to move back to her old neighborhood.
One thing I liked that Lourdes mention is that we should not judge an entire race based on one person of a group from that race actions. I also love the way she embraces her Mexican culture.