Sussy Lomeli

Mr. Medina
Humanities
1/31/14
Struggles of Poverty and Racism

Struggle can be defined as a difficult progress. Some may affirm that struggle is
fair. Sometimes struggle is good because people can learn from it. It makes them realize
how in riches they might come to poverty. Others assume that struggle is critical. Much
testing has been organized on this topic. Struggle, specifically poverty and racism, is
complicated and has implications that can harm us.
Struggles are multidimensional. We observe this in Breaking Through. For
example, one of the struggles Panchito experiences is being undocumented (see figure 1).
This struggle causes him to live in fear and be deported. Some examples from the text
that provide evidence of his fear is when he says I lived in fear for 10 years.
Along the lines of struggle being multidimensional we can also review its
consequences. Once again, using Breaking Through(Jimenez) Panchitos struggles with
poverty. Poverty affects Panchitos education, health, living conditions, and treatment.
There are examples from the book that show the consequences of poverty (see figure 2).
One example is Panchito had to miss school for 2 months to pick grapes and cotton
(pg.3). This shows how poverty affects his education. An example of the living
conditions Panchito had live is when Panchito and his family were putting their
belongings in the barrack (pg.7).
In addition to Breaking Through, the implications of poverty are also found in
multiple internet sources. Poverty affects living conditions and according to The
Linking between housing and Poverty, poverty is the main cause of living conditions.
Poverty limits housing options. Certain groups of people cant afford to live in a proper
house. Low incomes also affect the living conditions of a person. In 2013, child poverty
reached high levels. According to Wikipedia,16.7 million children living in food
insecure households. Although living conditions may seem bad, according to
Understanding Poverty in the U.S: Surprising Facts about Americas Poor, 80% of poor
households include air conditioning. All in all, poverty really affects living conditions,
though some poor households are really maintained.
Poverty also affects education in many ways. According to
www.dosomething.org, 40% of children who are in poverty are not prepared for school.
Also in the same webpage, children who are in poverty have a higher percentage of
having absenteeism & leaving school because they have to work or care for their
families. Many infants born into poverty have a low birth weight, which is associated
with many preventable mental and physical disabilities www.childreninpoverty.org .The
cause of poor health for millions globally is rooted in political, social and economic
injustice. According to Wikipedia, African Americans are unemployed because of
Caucasian Americans.
According to Childrens Defense Fund they are trying to improve the education
for every children, improving also the livable wages for every single child in poverty.
They are also talking to the families to educate them about the families benefits. Another
example for education would be the US schools. According to www.billmoyers.com,
these schools have taught all the classes for the right education, but also for farming.
Many children who are born in poverty have a higher risk of dying before their 1
st

birthday.
Struggles are multidimensional. In the book, Breaking Through by Francisco
Jimenez, Panchito experiences poverty affecting his education, living conditions,
treatment, and health. Poverty affects people in many ways such as living conditions,
health, treatment, and education. Poverty comes in many ways that a person cannot
expect. Although some think struggle is good, struggle is bad for many different reasons.
Its affects a persons living conditions by not being able to afford a good home.
This essay has shown that poverty affects everyones lives at one point or another.
Some may argue that poverty is good for you. It is good sometimes because it helps
people learn from poverty. This may be true but I believe poverty is bad because it has
implications on health, living conditions, treatment, and education.
Poverty is not the only struggle that has negative implications; racism is just as
damaging. Racism is the belief that certain groups of people possessing different
characteristics. In my words, racism is someone who makes fun of a person because of
the way they look, dress, or speak.
In the book Breaking Through, racism has a lot of implications in Panchitos
high school years. When Panchito brings taquitos to school from home, people start
making fun of him calling him greedy names. Also, people stereotype Panchito because
he is a Mexican, and thanks to bullying Panchito is now losing his Mexican culture.
Another example would be when Panchito goes to Peggys house and her parents think
hes Spanish. You might think, Whats the difference between Spanish and Mexican? A
lot actually. Spanish means that you are from Spain. Panchito is believed to be Spanish
because he looks white and he speaks Spanish.
The movie, 42, about the Jackie Robinson, story shows examples of racism and its
implications. When Jackie plays ball he is name called a lot by the pitcher. The
implications he couldve had was that he couldve gotten angry at the pitcher and hurt
him. Another implication couldve been he quit playing ball and that couldve been bad
for the team. The treatment he got from his team was positive because they helped him
not to be shy with them because of his skin color. They also helped him when the pitcher
was being greedy towards Robinson. They defend him from the pitchers greedy words.
Without the support of his team he wouldnt have gotten through the selfishness of the
other team. Jackie Robinson is great example of segregation. He is the first Negro
baseball player. He plays with the Dodgers. A great team, actually. He is believed he
wont be able to play because he is black, rather than white. Truth is, you dont need to
be white in order to play. You can be whatever to play as long as youre good. Jackie
Robinson is a great baseball player. He shows how good he is in the movie 42.
Not only Jackie Robinson experienced racism and its implications, but also it has
happened to me. My skin color is white. Some people might think Im Caucasian, but
what I truly am is Mexican. Im proud to say that! Some people also make fun of me
because Im white skinned colored and Im actually Mexican. All my family is skin
colored and Im white. Sometimes I think of getting a deep tan in order to look like my
brother and sisters. But I think twice and say, I want to be this way and I dont care what
people say. I will stay this way.
In the TED talk How to make stress your friend by Kelly McGonigal, it
explains how people who believed stress was bad for their health had a higher risk of
dying. Also, people who had stress and believed that stress was harmful for their health
had a higher risk of dying and it increased by 43%. How you think of stress has a lot to
do with your cardiovascular health. Oxytocin is a stress hormone that released when you
hug someone. For every stressful motivation there is a 30% risk of dying. Stress makes
your heart beat faster and your breathing heavier. Stress can be a cardiovascular disease.
In conclusion, struggle is multidimensional. There are many types of struggle in
peoples life. Some may argue that struggle is good. Struggle is bad for several reasons. It
specially hurts people in living conditions, health, treatment, and education. We observe
this in Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez. Panchito experiences struggle in all of
these reasons. Racism is also another struggle. We observe that racism is bad in the
movie 42. Jackie Robinson is a great example of racism. He was the first Negro baseball
player. Also in my life there has being examples of racism. In the TED Talk by Kelly
McGonigal, she explained how stress is our friend. So with all this information we might
be able to stop all the struggle in life.