Label Us Angry Analysis

The article “Label Us Angry” written by Jeremiah Torres describes the personal experience that changed his perspective on the world that surrounds him. Jeremiah and Carlos grew up together in Palo Alto, as adolescents their race went from being overlooked to recognized. This specific night they were going out to celebrate Carlos’ seventeenth birthday. Jeremiah “pulled out of the Safeway driveway as a speeding driver delivered a jolting honk.” The two cars “lined up at a spotlight” it was a young white man dressed in a polo shirt and slacks driving a BMW. The white man said, “he wasn’t honking at you, you stupid fuck!” Jeremiah gave him a middle finger while the white man pulled out a can of mace spraying them proceeding to say, “Take that you fucking lowlifes! Stupid chinks!” As their eyes burned no one stopped to help,
Several of our other readings support Torres’ claim and include explanations of “the other.” One in particular is, Arturo Madrid’s article “Missing People and Others: Joining together to expand the Circle.” He describes being “the other” as feeling excluded and disconnected sometimes making you invisible and other times stick out like a sore thumb. In their case Carlos and Torres stuck out like a sore thumb. Torres’ being swore at by a white teenager, getting sprayed with mace, and the cop’s unreasonable questions argue that racism is a prevalent issue in all societies. Furthermore, I agree with his reasoning on how race changes a situation. For example, when the cops questioned the two they asked if they were in a gang, these cops automatically generalized the two teens based on their race. If the altercation involved whites on both sides the cops likely would not have asked such a racist question. I also support his belief that it only takes a single event to transform you into an outsider in society, like Carlos and Torres became after this