Message #1

After reading Ramon “Tianguis” Perez's “The Fender-Bender”, it occurs to me that the officer is embarrassed by the writer in front of the Anglo-Saxon for the sheer fact that he and the writer are of similar ancestry and tries to distances himself from the writer by speaking in English rather than Spanish as the writer does. As the officer recommends possible punishments to the Anglo-Saxon for the writer, this is again a way for the officer to further distance himself from the writer, in that it shows the Anglo-Saxon, that even though the officer and the writer are of similar ancestry, the officer is not showing favoritism because of this and is willing to punish, rather extremely, the writer for the accident in such a way as to please the Anglo-Saxon. In the officer's mind, this may be a way to appease the Anglo-Saxon in further accepting him as an “American citizen”. The officer's comments about Mexicans, is a blatant way to distance himself from the writer in front of the Anglo-Saxon, and prove to him that he and the writer are two separate people. However, it seems the Anglo-Saxon does not care one bit whether or not the officer and the writer are of the same ancestry and thus the officer's “performance” falls on deaf ears. I am sure there are some individuals in other ethnic groups, such as Jews, Italians, and the Irish that have similar resentments of immigrants from their countries as the officer has towards the writer. In this day and age, we as a society tend to forget our roots and where we came from, and it is truly a disheartening thing.

Message #2

The OJ Simpson murder trial has become one of the most controversial world events of the nineties. The trial gained enormous media attention and glitz as it involved a former sports and movie celebrity accused of a horrendous double homicide. In the years since the trial, more and more “celebrity” trials have been overly televised. News outlets around the world have dedicated their entire broadcasts for the run of a trial. Additionally, cable channels, such as Court TV, have been created for the sole purpose of televising and analyzing various trials. The “Trial of the Century”, as it became to be known in the media and around the world, paved the way for other trials to gain publicity such as the Melendez brothers' trial and most recently, the Michael Jackson molestation trial. Not only did this trial severely divide racial lines across the United States due to defense team's usage of the “race card”, but it uncovered the cracks that are inherent in the American legal system to the rest of the world. Till this day, these cracks have never been healed and unfortunately may never be.

In the early nineties, a home video was released to the public that created chasms to form between race relations. This tape showed footage of a group of Los Angeles police officers beating an African-American man after a traffic stop. This terrible act of violence sparked a cataclysmic event that changed society in reference to racial harmony. Following the Rodney King beating, riots erupted in Los Angeles . The African American community were outraged in how the Caucasian officers were punished, or lack there of, and took out their frustrations to the streets. Multiple acts of violence ravaged Los Angeles , including destruction of property, looting, arson, and violence against Caucasians and other minorities. Footage of the riots was televised across the nation detailing the absolute horror of this tragedy. As day turned into night, the city was aglow with flame from the many fires that consumed the businesses and other areas decimated by the riots. The local, state, and federal governments eventually were able to control and put an end to the riots, so that clean up and healing could begin. As the Los Angeles riots faded into time, it became just another dark chapter in our nations' history and a sad reminder that racial harmony has yet to be achieved.