Example Essay

Leah Trevino
Mrs. Overly
English 1301.55
September 11, 2014
Example Essay
The Color of Infamy & Innocence
Racial profiling can never seem to make its way out of my life. It is a form of discrimination where someone is judged due to their race. Whether I am at school, marching band rehearsal, a restaurant, or even a doctor’s office, someone feels the need to judge me based on the color of my skin. I have never thought this was “okay” or “acceptable” in society. Throughout the seventeen years of my life, I recall having about three friends that have never made a comment about my race. People who judge someone based on the way they look and what their background is are some of the lowest of human beings. Most of the people who are affected by this issue tend to be minorities; however, any person can be a victim of racial profiling. Some people might think that racial profiling does not exist; nonetheless, I would like to bring the situation into focus and prove that it does still exist.
One of the most offensive situations I have ever experienced would have to be the time my parents and I visited several orthognathic surgeons, before I had reconstructive jaw surgery, to see who we felt was the most comfortable and caring. The first surgeon we visited was unquestionably the most distasteful. Without even looking at my records or anything before, one of the first things he said to my parents was, “I assume you are on government insurance...” He also had the audacity to ask if my parents were legal citizens of the United States. As you could imagine, this infuriated my parents. As we helped ourselves out of that doctor’s office, my father told me people like that do not deserve to have positions and jobs like the one he had. I consider people who discriminate us minorities and judge us based on our race small-minded people. The sad thing was that there really was not anything we could do but to tell others the way this doctor treated patients that are minorities. I think it is safe to say that I speak for all minorities when I say that this was completely unfair to us. I knew there was something I wanted and needed to do about this. I talked to some older relatives of mine about what they think I should do. The only thing they told me to do was to defend myself and to not ever let someone speak down to me as someone lower or different from them.
Being a person of color, living in America, automatically puts a huge arrow over your head. Racial profiling should be eradicated because at one point, everybody in this country was an immigrant. Singling out people because of appearance could not be more wrong. Although the stereotypes are decreasing in today’s world, the fact that they still exist is the essential dilemma. The fact that racial profiling still lives strong today are is a problem that needs to vanish as soon as possible. This experience, along with many others, has enhanced my views on racial discrimination. I have acknowledged that many of us would like to think that we are living in a different world and common hatred has disappeared. However, this is untrue. Minority groups are simply oppressed by Americans every day. Being different in this country is usually not a good thing at first. Different individuals who do not follow mainstream are bashed and unaccepted. Therefore, I continue to look at myself as something completely different from everything else, in the most positive way. We should be looking at other ethnicities as beautiful human beings, not vicious stereotypes that a few have built for the whole race.