Summary
Dear Ms. Adichi,
The main point of me writing this letter to you is to introduce myself. My name is Murphy Cabrera, and I am correctly a student at Borough of Manhattan Community College, my major is Non-Profit and Public Administration. I have to say that I agree with your statement about everyone focusing on that one comment of a particular culture and generalizing it as if we all are the same. I conclude that the past week's assignment for my ACL class helped me expand my mind. We had learned the struggles of students and families that came to America at some point for an opportunity but then somehow found flaws that maybe impact them till this day. As you may know a lot of folks here still battle with stories that were heard of which changed their general feelings towards them and where they are from. I guess that the United States can be very confused on Cultural Histories.
I learned that a schoolteacher tends to not know much about African history, instead plays a video that talks about it. I admit I had fallen into that dark hole of generalizing even if the statement was true, which brings me back to when students gave Dominicans a negative reaction after them sharing their family tree. We are all different, and where we are coming from should not influence our ability to interact with others but sadly it does. I have stopped mentioning my race unless someone asked me with anyone else around, if not I would say that my family tree has generated only in America. This has changed now as I’m empowering who I truly am and where I’m coming from.
I have stories when my friends that weren’t Latinos had stated that any music played from anywhere and that sounded like they were talking Spanish was from my country. I can say it was annoying hearing this for quite some time in my life, but at the same time what did they know... they thought we were all the same. I probably at some point thought all Asians are the same at a young age but with knowledge I had grown out of that horrible mindset. As some similar countries may speak the same language but it is a very different culture and practices and as for how people are down to the different cities in that country.
I do want to thank you for the speech and wise knowledge that has changed my view on things even now after being a victim myself. We should help others understand our point of view, as there is a right way and a wrong way. It is a consent battle not being able to judge someone or sometimes a group of people. I will forward this wise attitude you presented in your speech to families, friends or even a stranger so maybe at the end of my time, we had brought a positive attitude for a better world.
Peace be with you,
Murphy Cabrera.
