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Ivan Hernandez
Melisa Malvin
English 115
30 November 2015
Dont Discriminate
Humans are often visually judgmental beings, as people tend to asses or judge someone
or something with what they visually see. The first thoughts created when seeing a person for the
first time is often either the skin color or gender of that person. This is problematic as it creates
an assumption of a person only by their outward appearance, rather than a persons character or
personality. Rodriguezs book Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. is a book
focused on the first hand experiences of the author when they were part of a Chicano gang in
their youth, and all of the racial discrimination he faced from his peers and authorities. While
Smiths book, Twilight--Los Angeles, 1992 on the Road: A Search for American Character is a
compilation of perspectives and interviews of people during the L.A. Riots from the white and
black citizen perspective, illustrating the kind of destruction that was caused from racially
discriminating the African American population. Although many say that racial discrimination is
nearly non-existent in the present, racial discrimination is still around and can cause people to
adopt a destructive behavior to cope with various types of discrimination and divisions created
between races.
The No More Subtleties magazine is a very informative magazine as it exposes the
harsh racial discrimination and the various types of microagressions being expressed secretly in
todays day and age. The three types of microaggressions are microassaults, microinsults, and

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microinvalidation; microassaults are direct forms of prejudice and discrimination, microinsults
are verbal rude comments and insensitivities towards someone based on their race or culture, and
microinvalidations are acts that exclude or negates a person's thoughts or feelings. At the same
time it shows the effects that microaggressions can have towards the thought process and actions
of citizens living in communities. And how they create separations or borders between people of
varying races and / or cultures. The goal of the magazine is to create an improved and much
more connected world where racial discriminations negative affect doesnt overtake the lives of
thousands of people around the world that everyone lives in. Racial discrimination appears in
various different forms, and is not always obvious, especially in today's society.
The varying amounts of racial discrimination a person experiences can ultimate lead to
that person taking the drastic action of adopting a self-destructive behavior to cope with the
negativity they are facing. In the scholarly article, "Coping with Racial Discrimination: The Role
of Substance Use," it contains the evidence of their studies and they have found that the African
American adolescents in the study were significantly more likely to report drinking in an attempt
to escape, avoid, or minimize unpleasant or aversive emotional experiences, (Wills, Weng,
OHara, Gibbons, Roberts, Stock, Gerrard 2). Which is tied to racial discrimination, as being
called names or being treated unjust can be a very unpleasant, and possible traumatic, experience
for anyone to face on what may be a regular basis. There is also a slope graph that the journal
presents which focuses on the willingness to use substances for coping in conjecture with how
involved or excluded a person is in society, there are two slopes that show that people who are
very excluded will tend to use more substances to cope with this. Through this information it is
more understandable as to why the author of Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.
succumbed to substance usage when he writes that it never stopped, this running. We were

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constant prey and the hunters soon became the big blurs: the police, the gangs, the junkies, the
dudes on Garvey Boulevard who took our money, all smudged into one. Sometimes they were
teachers who jumped on us Mexicans as if we were born with a hideous stain. We were always
afraid, always running, (Rodriguez 36). With this type of experience, of being socially outcaste
from society and being verbally and physically assaulted by almost everyone, it would be
obvious for the author to have to start taking substances to be able to cope and minimize the
unpleasant experiences he faces every day. With this quote it can be seen that the author faces
various forms of racial discrimination from his teachers from how he explains how the teachers
treat the Mexican students. It is even more depressing when the author comes to the conclusion
of having to label this type of relationship between the big blurs and himself as a predator and
prey type of relationship. In the end racial discrimination exclude people from society and forces
them to harm themselves to be able to cope with all of the negative emotion and experiences they
are facing, but it can also cause the destructive behavior to be outwards.
The way that racial discrimination affects people is varied from person to person, but in
the end it is a change that affects a persons way of thinking and will lead them to adopt an
outward destructive behavior. In the journal article, "The Los Angeles Riot and the Economics of
Urban Unrest," DiPasquale and Glaeser concludes that tensions and violence are destined to
occur in an urban center or location if the area contains a large populations of varying different
ethnic minority groups (DiPasquale, Glaseser 69). Due to this information, a small tip in the
balance of peace, such as the Rodney King jury decision, can prompt anger in many of the
people that belong to the ethnic minority that is being treated unjust. The fact that many
assortments of racial groups all live closely with each other in Los Angeles could lead to a sense
of tensions to be created. The various racial discriminations and views in Los Angeles during the

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LA riots are re-told in a firsthand perspective terms throughout Smiths book, Twilight--Los
Angeles, 1992 on the Road: A Search for American Character, from the perspective of Mike
Davis during the La Riots we learn from his perspective that "this is a city at war with its own
children, and it refuses to talk to those children, And the city doesn't want to face these kids, or
talk to its kids, "(Smith 29). Daviss analogy of the city refusing to see eye to eye with its
children, its citizens, shows that the ethnic minorities had to take action and make a stand as
the city wasnt about to listen. This action was known as the La Riots and was held to in
retaliation to the police brutality and the favoritism towards the white population shown during
the Rodney King trial. They were right to use this analogy as the ethnic minority of Los Angeles
at the time were acting like children, acting out in fits of visible rage to get the attention of their
parents, the city. The action the ethnic groups took were oriented towards violence and
destruction of property in Los Angeles to show that they were not happy with the decision made
to acquit the four officers charged with assault of Rodney King. Thus racial discrimination
causes people to take on a destructive attitude or behavior, however many people assume that
racial discrimination doesnt exist anymore in modern times.
Although many people have stated that racial discrimination is a non-existent problem
anymore, they are wrong. This is due to the fact that microagressions exist in day to day life, they
are considered either verbal or nonverbal actions or insults that gives off a hostile, demeaning, or
negative message to a targeted person or group, based on their culture or race. In the article,
"Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Implications for Clinical Practice," the authors have
concluded that yet considerable empirical evidence exists showing that racial microaggressions
become automatic because of cultural conditioning and that they may become connected
neurologically with the processing of emotions that surround prejudice, (Sue, Capodilupo,

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Torino, Bucceri, Holder, Nadal, Esquilin 277). This conclusion shows that macroaggressions do
exist and wont be gotten rid of as easily as they form alongside with humanity. In the same
article, "Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Implications for Clinical Practice," the
authors have also stated that the experience of a racial microaggression has major implications
for both the perpetrator and the target person. It creates psychological dilemmas that unless
adequately resolved lead to increased levels of racial anger, mistrust, and loss of self-esteem for
persons of color; prevent White people from perceiving a different racial reality; and create
impediments to harmonious race-relations, (Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, Bucceri, Holder, Nadal,
Esquilin 277). This shows that microaggressions dont only just affect the victim by having
increases in anger and mistrust of others. Thus creating more of a gap between races and creates
more opportunities for more racial discrimination, as the loss of self-esteem would make it easier
for the aggressors to discriminate against people of color. This why the topic of microaggressions
should be taken more serious in terms of lessening its existence, as it is a problem that cannot be
fully erased from existence.
Therefore, racial discrimination is still around and causes victims of racial discrimination
to adopt a destructive behavior to cope, although many have stated that racial discrimination is a
non-existent issue. Racial discrimination can lead to self-destruction though substance usage, as
seen through the authors experiences with alcohol and drugs in Always Running, to deal with the
whole world going against him. While it can also lead to an outward destructive behavior
towards the people or area around them, as it is seen by the violent and destructive actions taken
by the ethnic minority in the LA Riots. While also proving that racial discrimination is an issue
that need to be confronted to prevent it from becoming a much larger problem in the future.
Racial discrimination is an issue that needs to be viewed immediately to make sure that racial

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boundaries and boarders do not increase, and that the future generation of society remain united
as a whole.

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Works Cited
Denise DiPasquale and Edward L Glaeser, The Los Angles Riots and the Economics of Urban
Unrest, Journal of Urban Economics 43.1 (1998) 52. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Gerrard, M, ML Stock, ME Roberts, FX Gibbons, RE O'Hara, CY Weng, and TA Wills.
"Coping with Racial Discrimination: The Role of Substance Use." Psychology of
Addictive Behaviors, 26.3 (2012): 550-560. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
This journal article is about the relation between racial discrimination and substance use
as a method of coping with discrimination. This is a credible source as it looks at various
age groups and is written by people who are in the divisions of psychology and
sociology. I will be using this to prove the negative effects of racial discrimination and
drug usage in Always Running.
Johnstone, Megan-Jane. "Bigotry and Racial Discrimination." Australian Nursing & Midwifery
Journal Aug. 2014: 27. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
This scholarly journal article is about how the Australian federal governments proposed
amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act would be a disaster, as it would allow
people to racially abuse/ harass someone without any prevention. This has some bias as it
is being looked at from the nursing perspective, and not from a social of community
perspective. I will be using this for my counter argument, that discrimination through
macroaggressions or racism is not okay.
Rodriguez, Luis J. Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. New York: Touchstone,
2005. Print. 16 Nov. 2015.

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Always Running is a testament from Rodriguez about the difficulties and mistakes he has
faced in his younger life, and was also an attempt to convince his son that the idea of
joining a gang is a choice that should be avoided. Rodriguezs first hand experiences with
what he writes about, in detail no less, makes him a credible source. I will be
discussing

the discrimination he faced throughout the book to back up my claims about how

racial discrimination effects the youth.

Smith, Anna Deavere. Twilight--Los Angeles, 1992 on the Road: A Search for American
Character. New York: Anchor, 1994. Print. 16 Nov. 2015.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is a collection of monologues containing interviews from
various people during the L.A. Riots. Smith can be considered as a reliable and unbiased
source as she covers both the white and black perspective of the L.A. Riots through her
writings in this book. I will be using some of the stories in the book as reference to social
discrimination being a real issue that can affect a community as a whole.
Sue, Derald Wing, Christina M Capodilupo, Gina C Torino, Jennifer M Bucceri, Aisha M. B
Holder, Kevin L Nadal, and Marta Esquilin. "Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life:
Implications for Clinical Practice." American Psychologist, 62.4 (2007): 271-286. Web.
17 Nov. 2015.
This article is about how racial macroaggressions exist everywhere and are commonly
committed by people who are unaware they are doing so. This is a credible source, as it
covers the various types and classifications of microaggressions in detail. I will be using
this to black up my claims that racial discrimination still exists through the use of
microagressions.