Hughes

Narrative response to Hughes

                When I read these poems it just makes me think of how far we have come in the last hundred years. I wanted to relate to something in class but never got the chance to. After Katie talked about how her grandmother was made fun of in school for being brown when she really wasn’t very dark, she became ashamed of her heritage and had low self esteem. I had a relevant story to tell to follow hers but the subject was quickly changed so I will tell you now. My mom is not white at all. Her father is African American and her mother is Hispanic. She looks back at the times these poems are talking about and is more proud than anything to be a woman of color. She sees how things use to be and how instead of being broken down, these people of color stood up for themselves and finally got the respect they deserve.

                Because my mother is married to a white man most people see her as white. Even I didn’t understand for the longest time that she wasn’t white. Father died when I was young so I never really got to see the full aspect of it all. So in her view things are the opposite, she wants to be seen as different because it’s rare and not everyone understands.