The Myth Of The Latin Woman Essay

Judith Ortiz Cofer and Brent Staples may not sound like they have much in common growing up in very different cultures, Cofer being Puerto Rican and Staples being African American, but both have lived extremely similar lives. Both have faced the ugly head of stereotypes and racism in America. Cofer describes how she felt growing up in her essay, “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria”. She explains the struggles of being stereotyped and how being a minority contributed to her treatment. Staples explains very similarly how he was profiled and persecuted because of his race and appearance in his essay “Just Walk On By: Black Men and Public Space”. He goes into detail the experiences where he was made to feel like a criminal just because of who he was. Comparing and contrasting both essays will show the themes of racial discrimination. Since both writers were born in the early fifties it will show how they had to grow up with being stereotyped and profiled during the civil rights movement, from the
This was counted as a major victory by African Americans across the nation because they were finally protected by the law. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevented them from being publicly discriminated against and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 protected them from discrimination in voting. Even though the main focus of the Civil Rights Movement was on the rights of African Americans the messages and advances can be applied to other minority races that faced discrimination. So, if the Civil Rights Movement was so successful in trying to promote the equality of people seen as second class citizens, why is there still discrimination today against those same minority