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| Edward Abbey | |||||||
| "Poor Viviano with so much to his credit has one problem which he'll never be able to outlive. Two or three beers and he reveals it to me. He has been infected by the posion of prejudice. Infected and victimized. With his dark skin and Spanish accent he is often taken for a Mexican, which he resents, because he despises Mexicans. He also despises Indians. Even his own heritage: "dumb Basko" he once called himself. Inadvertently when drunk he exposes the wistful desire to somehow disappear and merge into the pale-faced millions who own and operate America. Useless to try and reassure him that he has more to lose than gain by such assimilation; somewhere, in a way we all know, his pride was damaged and his confidence shaken... and his reaction is a typical one; he responds to prejudice by cultivating a prejeudice of his own against those who me feels are even lower in the American hierarchy than he is: against the Indians, the Miexicans, the Negroes. He knows where the bottom is. " from Desert Solitaire |
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