How it feels to be colored me

Zora tells about how she has felt different things at different times.  For example at times she feels colored and at times she just feels like herself.  She talks about the time she stopped being Zora and became colored this was when she went to school in Jacksonville which was majority white.  That was when she became colored. I think that it's less common for us Americans to have a similar experience because now there is of every race. But I think we've all been in at least one situation when we were the only one of our race and for that reason identified ourselves as that. Kind of like when we're with family, I don't identify myself as Mexican-American when I'm with my family it's either Maggie or Magaly.  It doesn't even pass my mind.  It's when we're around different races that we consider ourselves different.  I think that's the experience that Zora had.
I like the way that she handles her life as she reminds me of my mother.  She says that each of her ancestors have paid or contributed to what she has now and that she must not stop but continue and live.  She must not be angry or feel depressed. My mother also believes something similar which is why she avoids talking about topics that bring up the conflicts of the past. "Ya paso no hay nada que puedes hacer, se feliz." This is what my mom tells me whenever I get to passionate about a topic of the past.  She says it already happened and there's nothing I can do about it so I might as well be happy then she laughs at me.  It's not that she's ignorant or doesn't realize that her ancestors have all contributed to everything that she has today.  Instead she thinks that because of their struggles we should enjoy life and be happy.  I think this is similar to how Zora feels about it.
It also seems that Zora has no limits.  She doesn't restrain herself by saying that she's an American citizen or colored but rather widens her world by saying that she is a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries.  I feel that even if she may have had some hardships she has ignored them or not taken them personally and enjoyed herself a lesson we all have to learn. : )

King?

In the letter that King Jr. wrote from Birmingham jail he expressed many ideas which I believe were enormously influential in our history to create the society in which we live.  However I think that his ideas were misunderstood in a way.  He was proposing for every human to live unsegregated and I think we still haven't accomplished that in today's society.  While there has been major improvement in the way Negroes are treated I feel that Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't just fighting for them I think he was fighting for all of us trying to free us from the stereotypes and ideas that keep us apart from living peacefully.  There is still segregation and racism however it's not obvious and ignored.
For example why is it that before I came to high school I've never talked to a white person except for my new eight grade teacher?  Why is it that in my elementary school there were only Hispanics and African Americans?  If there is truly no segregation then why do we continue to separate ourselves? For example when I asked my grandfather why he picked the house he lives in he replied that because all his neighbors were Hispanic.  While I can see how it's easier in a way to connect to someone of your own race because we're from the same origin or are aware of the pain or culture that our ethnicity has experienced or has, shouldn't it be possible for us to feel connected to people of other races?  We're all humans and have feelings such as compassion, love, appreciation.  I think that we should work towards a goal were we do not see each other in terms of race or color but rather as the wonderful human being that we are.  When we are no longer separated in our minds and see ourselves as one with everyone surrounding us that is when I believe that we would have accomplished Marting Luther King Jr.'s goal.

Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.

— Sir Winston Churchill

Are we humans?

As I read the story We are ugly but we are human I began thinking about whether we have the right to still call ourselves human.  However it could just be my idea of a human that is false.    Women are raped, abused, hit, forced to sleep with their brothers or fathers, is this how we should treat each other?I believe we are different from animals because we have feelings and one of the most important is compassion.  That's our humanity.  But I don't see animals killing each other and fighting or doing wrongdoings to their neighbors.  In the story people were treated like animals no worse they were killed, beat up, tortured.  So I wonder do we still maintain the right to call ourselves human if we're losing our humanity?
How is it possible for a person to treat another human being so badly? Do they not have family, sisters, mothers, fathers? I think we may have lost ourselves and the way we can find ourselves is by retrieving our humanity.  By making enemies friends by working together.  We need to change the way we view ourselves and the people around us if we want suffering to end.  Nobody should ever be abused or mistreated.  It is because we can love that we are different for animals now we have to make use of that gift.