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WRITE FOR YOUR RIGHTS: TAKE A STAND AGAINST DISCRIMINATION LA YOUTH ESSAY CONTEST
Second Place Winner: Marquita Jones, age 17, Los Angeles, CA
Facing Discrimination
When I was 7, my whole family went to a pool in Bellflower Park. I remember sitting in the cold ice water. My feet were chilled. I was so excited to be there.
I was playing alone until I saw this little girl playing by herself. She had long blond hair and cool green eyes. We were both in the 3-feet section and were splashing water everywhere. I admired her because we had on the same bathing suit.
"Hi, my name is Marquita," I said, then asked for her name.
She really did not notice that I was talking to her, so I repeated myself. It took her forever to talk or even look at me. But then she did.
"My name is Cindy," she said.
Cindy was looking at me out of the corner of her eye. I could tell that she did not want to look at me.
"Cindy, would you like to play," I asked, and bounced a beach ball toward her. She began to cry and became very hysterical. Then her mother came out of nowhere and started screaming at me. My mother heard the yells and she raced over as quickly as she could, although she was in a different section of the pool.
"What's going on? Why is this baby crying?" my mother asked. Cindy's mother said that I hit her daughter.
"I didn't touch her," I said. "I was just trying to play with her."
Cindy's mother turned and looked right at me. "My daughter does not play with black people," she said with the ugliest voice I've ever heard.
My heart sank. I was hurt and disgusted. The words she said were disrespectful and out-of-line. I swam away and played with my family for the rest of the time and tried to enjoy the park.
I will never forget that awful day because I'd never experienced discrimination until then. I am 17 and live my life with love, respect and happiness. I do not plan on hating anyone or discriminating against anyone.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what the people think." I think that explains the right to be a different race.
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