This is a story of a man named Jesús Colón. Jesús Colón was on a subway. He's a black, Hispanic, and he's living in a racist time period. He sees a white young lady, with two young children, and a baby. He knows what he should do. He should help the young lady. But he doesn't. He rushes right past them, as he rushes out of the problem that he could've helped. I believe that he should've helped even if he may have gotten in trouble.
Jesús Colón is black and he's Hispanic which is a way he describes himself. He is living in a racist time and that's exactly how he described himself. He also described the young blonde woman as white, and as a woman. This was what held him back from helping her. The fact that he was worried she would call the police on him because it was late at night, she was alone with three children, she was white, and he was black. However he didn't not stop to help her off the train worrying about himself, because he may have gotten in trouble or the lady may have thought something of it rather than actually him helping her. He was being selfish and put himself in front of her and didn't want to get in trouble instead of taking an chance and helping her.
The skin color in this time period was a big barrier to everyone. Black people were segregated from white people so I understand why he wouldn't help her. He may have been worried that she would've gotten the wrong idea that he was trying to help her, she might have thought that he was being to friendly. So the skin color was one of the reasons he didn't help, but I think that he should've tried to see past that even though the larger society says that because of someone's skin color they will either be accepted into society or not be accepted and the blacks at this time did not feel accepted.
Jesús Colón regrets not helping the lady out of the subway. He didn't make the right choice. It's the thought that counts to at least bothered to help her and what I think is, I don't think she would've acted racist in front of her own children because what if they copied her to their friends or repeated some of the words that she said to him. So I think that he made the wrong choice in rushing off and not helping her. He knows he didn't make the right choice and he wishes he could've done something to help her.
If Jesús Colón were white would my answer be different in how he reacted? No, if he rushed off without even helping her than that would be just wrong. Jesús Colón's dilemma was that he was black and she was white, so she might have thought something different, but if he were white and she were white than he should help her, because they are the same race and she might not think anything of except for the fact that he's trying to help her.
I think that the victims in this story are the woman and Jesús Colón. But more of Colón because first of all he wouldn't help her because he was worried she might call the police on her and he was black so she might think something else rather than he was trying to helper her. The woman was a victim not so much because she had trouble getting off the train and he didn't help her. The Larger Society victimized them because if there were no racial problems, he wouldn't think or even worry about him being black and there wouldn't be a problem helping her. But everyone thinks of racism then people worry about it and they hate one another because of people's skin color.
I chose this photo because it's a photo of the 'Larger Society' and what we have here is a group of black people in a restaurant. There are no white people because white people wouldn't go into that restaurant during this particular time because of racial problems. So this represents the Larger Society and right now the Larger Society doesn't allow black people to mix with white people.
This is related to the story we read in class called 'The Blokes' by Alan Gibbons. Hashim was not accepted into The Blokes because he was a foreigner. The Blokes represent the Larger Society because what they say goes "What the Blokes say goes" and so the Larger Society are the white people, they think that they are the greatest rather than being equal. So Hashim represents the other races, different and non-white. When they aren't accepted they don't do anything because they are powerless unlike the Larger Society. The kids who keep their heads down, and don't say anything represent the people who could make a change but don't. John, Hashim's friend, represents the people who do make a change in the society and help the 'Hashim's".
This story is connected in my life because, when I was in third grade, we would all play together at recess. My friends and I always stuck together and we would go into different groups to play games. There was one girl, who didn't fit in. She told "out of the world" lies and we all knew that she was lying. One day she decided to hang out with my friends and she was telling us all about how she could do flips off a bar. My friends and she were having an arguement. I said nothing and they were still arguing and I told my friends to shut up about her. I didn't stop and "rush off the bus" I stopped and "helped the lady" I feel really good about this and after that I heard the girl say, "Rachel is a really great friend" I still feel pretty good about what I said over 4 years ago.
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