Talking about racism can be taboo in many communities. But whether or not people are willing to discuss racism, the effects of discrimation have very real consequences for those who experience it.Strange looks, verbal humiliations, and hostile attitudes are some of the ways Latinos in Logan experience racism—whether it’s at work, in day-to-day life or even family environments.
Veronica has lived in Logan for over 20 years.
“At work, in schools, in stores, how they serve you, in banks too many times," Veronica said. "Let's not talk about the law. We simply cannot have legal representation in Spanish. We do not have good leaders. They are all volunteers, but we do not have professionals, leaders who are taken into account by."
Veronica said that whether or not an individual is sensitive to discrimination, the poor treatment Latinos experience is often very obvious.
“On one occasion I was paying with food stamps, or food coupons. I put in food [at checkout] and everything, then the cashier, I put my card in and she put in a debit card. And obviously it didn't pass, so I said, ‘oh, it's a food card,’ and she said, ‘oh, oh, obviously.’ So, I said, ‘why do you say it is obvious?’ and she told me very shamelessly, ‘because you Latinos only live off the government.’ The only thing I told her was that she was very wrong and that that was not true," Veronica said.
Workplace discrimination is also common Veronica said. For her, one of these experiences was a hostile co-worker.
“'You are not going to come teach me how I should do my things,' (they said). 'A Mexican, an immigrant, is not going to come to my country to teach me what I should do.’ It was no longer related to work, it was directly related to me,” Veronica said.
Nazaria is a Mexican immigrant in a mixed-race marriage and said she experiences verbal harassment from her parents-in-law. She said they have rejected her daughter, their granddaughter, for being biracial. According to Nazaria this had included her in-laws refusing to take her daughter to the hospital when she was gravely ill.
“My husband's family, they have also always rejected me, and the saddest thing is that they reject my daughter," Nazaria said. "It is very difficult as a mother and as a person, and as someone who has emigrated to this country. [I] have no family in this country and [I am] alone, and having to go through those things makes it even more difficult. When I arrived, [my mother-in-law] was looking at me from head to toe. When my daughter was born, the first thing she did was look at my daughter's skin color, and the first thing she said was, 'she has brown skin!'”
