Editor,
I recently attended a meeting for a student club that will remain nameless, at which I was shocked and outraged to witness an act of racial discrimination unbefitting for any place, and especially the state in which we live. At this meeting we were planning a Halloween event for small children when one of the leaders of the organization decided to share with the rest of the group what she would be wearing as a costume. This Anglo woman announced that she would be attending the event as a "wetback," while her boyfriend would be dressed as a Border Patrol officer. I was appalled and greatly offended to hear that the president of this prestigious student organization was planning to attend a social event involving impressionable children dressed in a racially discriminating costume.
As a Mexican-American woman, I take great offense to this negative portrayal of the racial group to which I belong, a portrayal that ultimately dehumanizes my people and turns us into caricatures. I refuse to be part of an organization with a leader that degrades my culture, my people and my family.
I know that upon graduation this woman - who happens to be fluent in Spanish due to living for years in Mexico - plans to work for a company that has branches in Latin America. I hope she realizes that these facts do not give her the right to ridicule the misfortunes of the Mexican people that cause them to look for a better life in this country in the first place.
I hope the next time that she starts to proclaim her unique and fabulous idea for her Halloween costume, she will think twice and realize the pain, hurt and misrepresentation that accompanies her actions and her words.
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Raquel Alvarez
UNM student
