Judgment Within Culture
Humans; they are experts at judging and being judged. When a person is considered a minority, they often feel uncomfortable because they are afraid of what the majority thinks of them. They struggle to be able to be proud of who they are and express themselves. The majority often makes someone feel as though being different is a bad thing. When one is from a minority culture, they are often judged by the majority culture causing tension; on the other hand, their own perspective could cause the judgment of other groups resulting in sadness.
In “Legal Alien,” the author Pat Mora explains the prejudice and judgment between Mexicans and Americans. This is causing discomfort and sadness between them. Mexicans think of…show more content… Medicine wants a traditional Indian education for his son, but his son’s teacher doesn’t understand because Wind-Wolf is different from her other students. His father argues, “He is not culturally disadvantaged, but he is culturally different”(Lake 76). Wind Wolf refuses to participate in his native culture because he feels differently due to his kindergarten school’s influences. He wants to get a haircut because he has come to believe that his hair is too long for his new society. After a few weeks of kindergarten, Medicine Grizzlybear is frustrated and decides to send a letter to Wind Wolf’s teacher because he notices his son is not appreciating his culture. Medicine Grizzlybear asks the teacher to make an effort to understand his Indian culture so that he is not labeled as a slow learner, stating, “So I realize he may be slow in grasping the methods and tools that you are now using in your classroom, ones quite familiar to his white peers, but I hope you will be patient with him. It takes time to adjust to a new cultural system and learn new things” (Lake 77). Wind Wolf is having trouble adapting to the new environment that is surrounding him. His peers who are accustomed to the teacher’s methods are doing fine while Wind Wolf is just trying to fit in and not stand out. In this story, accepting different cultures is…show more content… The outsiders get off the plane in America with little information about the country, all of their knowledge is coming from movies and tv shows they've seen such as Cops and Terminator. Also they see a sign in the bathroom after they get off the plan saying Proposition 187 meaning if a person is not a legal taxpaying citizen they can't use any of our resources provided from the government. In the passage it says “Yes on Proposition 187. Mexicans go home” (Iyer 51). These new people have just stepped off of their plane and already people are telling them to leave their country and that they can’t use their resources because their not a legal paying citizens. These people are hoping to go to America because it's “The Land of Opportunity”. But once they get to this supposedly perfect place the people are not welcoming and they don’t feel like they belong. When the people first got to the United States they first thought, “There are no military planes on the tarmac here, the newcomers notice, no khaki soldiers in fatigues, no instructions not to take photographs, as at home; but there are civilian restrictions every bit as strict as in many a police state” (Iyer 51). Even though there’s not military men carrying around guns and military planes on the tarmac everywhere they are still intimidated due to the people that actually live in