Worth it

A story about racism. worth it Jerardin Ucang

Growing up as a Person of Color, or POC, has always been hard for me. As someone who grew up , living in America, people would always judge me on the way I look. “ but everyone usually gets made fun of for their looks! '' You say, but for POCS, we usually get made fun of our eyes, our skin color, our traditional attires, etc. Even till now, we’re in 2026, nearly at 2027, but no, we have so many racist jokes being said to us, Ever since the Corona Virus outbreak , there's been more racism, like people calling asians quote-on-quote “ dog eaters “, not my words, theirs. Also during George Floyds death, which was an obvious show of racism. Hopefully no one else gets to go through that, especially when they’re innocent. It's been 3 years since COVID has finally stopped, and people still hold a grudge against Asians because of it. Yes, racism has slowly faded away, but it's still inevitably there. There's still so much racism , all around the world. Hello, my name is Evangelina, and this is my experience with racism. Beep beep beep I wake up from my sleep, yawning and stretching. Stretching my hand out to close that god darn alarm clock. I finally open my eyes, as the sun hits my eyes, making me squint. I stand up and go fix my hair. Today is the day my whole life changes. No, I'm not auditioning for something, and no, I'm not scheduled to go meet the one and only Harry styles! Though, i wish I could. I mean, it is 2011, who wouldn't want to see harry?! Anyways, my life changes now , because I'm going to a new school. This whole idea, or new school thing came by really fast. I mean, my father had been promoted, but he had to work in another country to start this new job. So well, we moved here, To America, the land of stars and stripes, well, by their looks of their flag. I finally decided to take a shower, it was just 7:37, and school doesn’t start till 9, so. My new school usually starts at 9AM, it's currently the middle of the school year, so they have an event going on right now. Getting up from my bed, I walk towards my bathroom, turning the door knob to close it. Untangling my hair, and finally starting up the shower.

Wiping down my body, making sure i was dry, i put my towel around me, and get another to dry my hair. I then go start changing. Luckily, I don't have to worry about what shirt or bottoms I should wear today, since my school had uniforms. I honestly dont get why people don't like uniforms, I mean, yeah you can wear whatever you want, but hey, at least you don't have to stress about your outfit. After changing, i go downstairs to start eating. “ Good morning evangel! How are you? Are you nervous for your first day of school?” My mother says as she passes my breakfast to me. “ Morning ma! And no, not really.” I lied, well it is partially the truth. If I'm being honest, of course I'm scared for the first day of school! I’ll be surrounded by new faces. And, im joining this new school at the middle of the year! Everyone by now has already decided who’s popular, who to bully, who’s boring. Everyone probably have friends to talk to! And I'm socially awkward, which is true. I cannot for the life of me socialize with other people! I get too afraid if they think i'm boring, or if they think i'm simply annoying. I'm not a person who cares about reputation, because well, it's simply going to fade away as you grow older. But this day i making me hope i have a good enough reputation to gain friends, i mean, who would I even talk to? Who do I always have to overthink about the simplest things?!- “ Evangelina? Honey, are you okay? You stopped replying to me for around 5 minutes, and you haven't eaten yet sweetie, it's already 8:12, we have to start leaving if you want to be on time.” My mother says, voice laced with concern. “I-I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something. I then finally start eating. Floors creaking as a walk over, rushing to get my backpack, whilst I tooth brush. I quickly make sure I have everything ready, and run down downstairs, hand holding the railing and my bag. I place my bag down on a couch and rush to the bathroom to continue brushing my teeth. “ Evangel! Are you ready? “ my mum shouts as she goes downstairs. I go fix my hair, get my phone and carry my bag. “ Yes mum! Let's go! “ Oh boy, am I nervous for today.

“ Okay bye mom! Love you! “ I say to my mum , as I exit the car, making sure I didn't leave anything behind, then giving her a wave. “ bye evangel! Love you too.” she says as she waves back. Hopefully everyone likes and accepts me. I slowly walk into the school, and once I enter the inside, no one looks at me. Which is great! Luckily I'm not gaining that much attention, and hopefully I can be an average student. I start getting some looks, and by the expression on their faces, it looks like they're confused, surprised, and disgusted. Why did they look disgusted? Did I have food stuck on my hair? Was there something wrong with my looks? I keep my head down, as I start hearing laughter. Maybe they were laughing about something? I’ve got to stay positive. I opened my notebook, to make sure I got the correct locker. I open the locker, placing my books and notebooks in. Making sure I still had my books for the day. I start walking to my class even though the bell hasn't rung yet, just in case I get lost. Luckily, after the bell rings, I find my Arts class. Waiting for the teacher to come in, I try to become friends with the boy next to me. “ Hi! What's your name?” is smiling. “ hey! My name is Louis! You can call me Lee. Are you new here? I haven't seen you here before.” “ Yeah, I’m new here! Hi Lee, my name's Evangelina! Or, you can call me evangel.” “ Alright, what's your next class? And do you need help with finding your classroom?” He says. “ My next class is.. “ I opened my bag to find my schedule, looking for what I have as 2nd period for tuesday. “ Mmm, it's English. And yeah, if you have time, it would be nice if you could help. “ “ Yeah sure, by the way- “ he said, well, before getting interrupted by the teacher. “ Good morning Class! Hopefully you enjoyed the concert earlier. Anyways, today, we have a new student! Evangelina, please come up at the front.” The teacher, or Mr.Hix says. I walk at the front and introduce myself. “ Hello! My names Evangelina, you can call me evangel. I'm from the Philippines, and hopefully we can all become friends! “ I say, introducing myself, as some people wave or mutter hellos or hi. I walk back to my seat.

“ Alright, Let's get started with our class. So- “. Art passes by pretty quickly, I wait for Lee to finish getting his stuff, and we walk out. And well, I quickly found out he’s popular. “ Yo hey dude! Who’s this? “ one of his friends said to Lee. “ Hey Jack, this is Evangel, a new student, showing her the way to class.” “Alright, remember our rule?” he says, and i'm confused. “ Yeah, yeah I know, I'm just showing her the way to class, and i- '' he finishes his sentence, but whispers the last part. We walk away, and once Lee’s friends are gone I quickly ask him. “ Lee, what rule? “ I ask, “Oh, it’s nothing. “ He says, giving me a sad smile. And we continue walking back to class. After English is done, it’s finally recess, and well, it was obviously the worst part of my day, well, because, once I get into the cafeteria, people start laughing, saying stuff to me like “ Ew, a brown girl!” “ Dog-eater !” Everyone starts laughing at me, and well, I obviously run away. I stayed at the toilet for the rest of the cafeteria, because well, obviously no one wants me here. It's been a whole week. A week of the incident. And well, loads of people keep making fun of me. Calling me slurs, telling me to go back to my country, and obviously it hurts. It hurts so much. I can't stand Being in school, so I stay in the toilet everytime i have extra time, because I obviously don't want to see anyone. And what hurts the most is that Lee is never there when they make fun of me, we usually just see each other during arts or math. And well, we barely talk anymore. He was my first and only friend. And well, everything hurts so much. With everyone always making fun of me, I'm finally deciding to stand up for myself. If none of the other around 10 non-white people want to stand up for themselves, ill also stand up for them. Because I'm so tired of seeing these people making fun of us because of our race. I'm so tired of them thinking they’re funny because of their bad jokes. I'm so tired of everything.

2 weeks of witnessing people and me getting bullied, just because of our race. I’ve finally decided today was the day. Every single day I've lacked courage and confidence in myself , and I haven't been able to stand up for anyone. Hopefully this day goes well, and hopefully they stop. It wasn't that hard to find people who start making fun of me. “ Hey dog- eater! Did you just finish eating animals? “ They start snickering. “ Can you stop? Oh my god. You know, you really aren't funny, you use the same exact insults to me for the whole 2 weeks i’ve been here. I'm so tired of you thinking you are so funny! What do you want me to do when you insult me? Make me cry? Huh? What do you really want? Come on, say it to everyone, everyones already looking at us. Is that what you want? For everyone to give you attention?!” I say. “I-i” they stutter. Nothing else comes out of their mouth, as they walk away. The corridor goes silent, and walks away, going to the principal's officer. I knock on the dorr, waiting for someone to let me in. “ Good morning Mr.Ezkier, may I please call out Noell Johson and Brian Mingus for bullying me and some other students? “ “Oh? Really? Do you have proof?” and then and there, was i lucky that i voice recorded every single time they’ve bullied me. I got through the cafeteria, and luckily, no one made fun of me, except for earlier, but hey. It's been great so far. Lee and I have finally made an actual conversation. He praised me for standing up for myself and others. And just before recess started, the principal had asked the bullies to go to his room. Some people, specifically the ones who were getting bullied also praised me, and well, them getting bullied also stopped! Though, I did get a warning for shouting in the hallways, but hey, i'd say it's worth it.

FREY TAGS TRAIANGLE : Exposition : Evangelina wakes up at 7:27, to start her first day at a new school. Initial Incident : Evangelina gets ready for school. Rising Action : Once She gets to school, people give her looks. She also meets a friend, His name is Louis. Climax : people bully Evangelina, Saying racial slurs, or racist jokes. Falling action : After 2 weeks of getting bullied, Evangelina finally decides to build up her courage and confidence. Resolution : With courage and confidence, she stands up for herself and others who are also getting bullied. Denouement: She stops people, and herself from getting bullied, She starts to become friends again with Louis.

Racism has been experienced by many, all around the world, for such a long time. Lots of people dont have enough courage to stand up for themselves and many do. Racism isnt just identified through insuts, it can be through longer jail sentences, for a not-so-bog deal, or through killing. We've all always wanted peace. so education ourselves with social and environmental issues is really one of the best way to help.