Sumblog 4: Personal Narrative.

As white, male, middle class American attending a University I am almost a template of a privileged person in the United States.  We demonstrated this in our discussion in class last week as we outlined what would be the criteria of a privileged American.  As I have experienced privilege I have also had my fair share of experiences of oppression.  Both situations have contributed to who I am today and wouldn’t change a thing. 

The experience I am writing about today involves both privilege and oppression.  When I was in high school my family went on a vacation down to Florida which is the example of how I have been privileged.  When we were down there we sat on the beach, went swimming in the ocean, and enjoyed fishing off the dock.  I will never forget this experience and is an example of how I am privileged in my life today. 

However while we were on this vacation, my brother and I walked down a boardwalk and made it to a much more diverse part of town.  On this one particular block I remember looking around and realizing that we were one of the few people that were not Hispanic American.  When we walked into a relatively crowded “hole-in-the-wall” restaurant we were immediately stared at.  When we finally made it to the counter we were unable to order because we couldn’t communicate with the owner because everything was in a slang dialect of Spanish.  Because of this we were unable to order food and it gave me a completely different perspective walking back to the hotel.

This experience in my life demonstrated the privileges and oppressions I have experienced based solely on a change in geography.  When I look back I feel blessed because it opens my eyes to oppressions that other races go through when they visit a town such as Stevens Point and I hope through this narrative that I am able to open others eyes to the oppressions of others and appreciate their privileges.