Assignment 3

Out of my immediate family, both my younger brother and I were born here in the United States. However, both of my parents were born in Trinidad, a pretty small country in the West Indies near the Caribbean Islands. My grandparents on both my mother's and father's sides were from Trinidad as well. It's hard to say exactly, because I have SUCH a big mix in my family. Going through it all gets pretty confusing sometimes, even for my parents. But still, in the end, my family is considered as being "West Indian".

But personally, race and ethnicity isn't generally something I grew up really thinking about, even though the area I grow up in always had issues regarding race. I'm used to people assuming I'm Hispanic, mainly because of my totally "Hispanic" last name (which Professor Gager noticed in class as well!). Another factor is my obviously crazy curly hair, which is usually the icing on the cake for most people. But it's always the funniest thing to see their reactions when I tell them that I really am not Hispanic at all! :)

What was surprising about the video was how when the little girl was asked which was the "bad" doll, she pointed to the darker one. And then when the interviewer asked for which one looked most like her, the little girl hesitated before choosing. It was shocking to see her struggle, because at first she felt that the dark skinned doll represented "bad" and then after, she saw that the doll looked most like her as opposed to the other one. It's crazy to see a child (and most of the others) come to a conclusion like this at such a young age.