Memory of Racism

Tomasito, Archbishop Lamy statue in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2007.

My Early Contacts with Racism

I was born in a racially divided land: New Mexico, USA.

As a small child I had no concept of racism, and, sheltered by my family and friends, I had no experience with racism until I entered school, where I encountered instant hatred directed against me by my little peers. I was a “white”, a detested “gringo”, and since I was the only gringo in my elementary class for a while, I discovered that I was a true alien.

In the classroom I could count on the teachers (all white women) for protection, but on the playground I became the target of verbal abuse and was constantly threatened with physical violence. My first Spanish words were “Quiere combate?” (Do you want to fight?) These words, frequently shouted at me by older children, I didn’t need to have translated.

I learned very young to run from enemy “Mexicans”, and, if caught, to use every gift of diplomacy I could invent. I hated fighting and have never learned the art.

Oddly, I never complained to my parents or teachers about this curious state of affairs. Like most children, I accepted life as I found it: my environment seemed absolutely normal to me. I had no idea that the juvenile terrorism and intimidation as practiced by my classmates and the older kids at the school was an aberration.

Besides, I was raised in a devout Christian family and believed, as a matter of course, that I should “turn the other cheek” and to “do good to those who spitefully abuse you and persecute you...”

I can’t say I was noble enough to always practice these qualities--I was far too frightened of physical pain for that kind of courage and I wasn’t drawn to martyrdom. Instead I learned to avoid the “pachukos” or “fighting Mexicans” which made my life so interesting.

I have seen a large and growing number of books, stories and articles about young people growing up intimidated by white people (Gringos, Haoles, etc.) and I am truly story about that--but for the record--some white kids in America were abused by other majority (in their own neighborhoods) races.

Tomasito, 2008


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