Angelo Cotugno
English 1109 at 01:30, T-Th
6th November, 2020
Ronald McNair and Ricardo Pitts-Wiley both faced racism. Ronald McNair as a young child faced institutionalized racism when trying to check out books as a kid. Ricardo Pitts-Wiley faced racism in the sense that when he got a part in a school play other kids, mostly white did not approve of his role in the play. Both of them overcome this by proving them wrong. Ronald McNair became a famous astronaut and Ricardo went on as an actor and later decided to become a father. They showed the people and the systems that held them back that they could achieve what they wanted and would not hold them back.
The main difference between these people is how they dealt with their situation. They both kept calm and maintained order but McNair stood his ground and outright fought while Pitts-Wiley would just prove them wrong like he did during his school play. They have different ways of death in struggles, but both do the job. I don’t think any way is better. I think we can learn a lot about dealing with difficult situations from each one of their story’s.
I have never experienced racism in my life however I can relate being a child and being told I’m not old enough. I can remember one time when I was a kid at my grandmas. She left me and my brother and told me not to touch the fireplace and told my brother to light the fire. I enjoyed camping and when I was out could hangout near the campfire and watch it. Since her house had old styled single panel type windows it would be cold no matter how high you turned up the furnace. After a couple hours huddled over the furnace register and my brother had given up trying to start the fire I pulled a large I-Spy book off the shelf and got the blackened logs that my brother had been trying to light to set off.
(This is not the fireplace but it’s very close. It was very nice when lit, but when it wasn’t it was like looking at a delicious birthday cake that you can’t eat.)
I can relate to being told that your not old enough. I'm the youngest of 4 and there is a gap between my older brothers and me. The gap is my sister but we get along alright. It was just hard to see them do cool things that I thought that I could do but being told that I cant.
ReplyDeleteHey Angelo, I can relate to not being old enough too, but for me it was not being tall enough. Through out my life height has been something people have held over my head. Even though I could never control it.
ReplyDeleteI really like how these profiles because they proved him wrong, they didn't let anyone else negative thoughts hold them back.
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