Race, class and Gender Essays (1038 words) - Winter Coat

English Race, Class and Gender When I arrived to Chicago, Illinois on November 4, 2004, I was so excited to start a new life in the American dream. The first thing I did was buy a winter coat, of course, it was the beginning of winter and I was freezing. My cousin have point out a stripe mall that was 5 miles away from me. I took the city bus to the stripe mall. I was amazed at all the tall building around me. I haven?t seen so many stores and cars in my life. When I arrived there, I went to a clothing store to buy a winter coat. I was overwhelm by there selection and had a hard time decide which coat would fit for winter. When I finally decide on a winter coat, I took a walk around the stripe. I wanted to see what else is there for me to look or buy. I wanted to enjoy my first winter I have ever experiences. However, it all came to an end when I finally realize why I wasn?t feeling welcome. At first, I didn?t realize how I was getting treated until the end of the day. I reflected back on all my encounter and ho w they were reacting towards me. Finally, I reflected these three things on my everyday lives in society; race, class and gender. Race was one of the experiences I encounter at my first store. The sale associate kept asking me if I needed help. At first, I thought she was doing a great job of customer services until I saw her following me everywhere I went. She kept a close range on me and not even once she took her eye off of me. Than She kept asking me the same question but this time, it was more aggressive and demanding. After this encounter, I asked myself do I believe in race or do I categorize myself as black? In my honest opinion, I really do not know. Perhaps I do categorize myself as black sometime, even though I don?t want to. When your born into a different country and the society had never label you by the color of your skin; your opinion starts to change. However, life was less stressful when I lived in a different country. Many other country doesn?t label people by the color of their skin but by the race we were given since the beginning of time; which is human race. In my years of studying the interaction among different race, I have concluded that many of these influences comes from peer influences and media betrayal. Which bring me to my next point class. Class plays an importance role in shaping our reactions to an interpretations of culture. For example, when the sale associate judged me by my class and race. I have found that her poor judgment was base on my clothing, speech, and my color of the skin. Which I have previously talk about when media played a huge influences on stereotyping. Perhaps, the media influences her opinion to think otherwise about a black male shopping at her job. If she would of taken the time to personality know me, maybe her opinion would of changed. Although I have plenty of money to buy the things I needed, I didn?t look at myself as a black thief that they name on a everyday bases. However, other judgment was based on the kinds of vehicle you drove in or if you have the new technology gadgets. For example, I took the city bus to the stripe mall and wearied a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. I had just arrived to the United States and I didn?t have a cell phone yet, so I had to use a pay phone w hen I needed to make a call home. By these description of me, I fit into the American society of a black male. Therefore, these are some of the examples how American interpreted class is by gender. Gender is also one of the main reason why Americans fear me. Previously, I stated that American are influences by their peers and media. Another encounter I experiences