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Anapaula Piedra

Professor Brody Craig

English Composition I

9 September 2019

"Some Thoughts on Mercy" by Ross Gay

Some Thoughts on Mercy, an essay written by Ross Gay tells the reader a little bit about

his life, about his experiences being an African American man in United States, how he grew up

and lived in a racist environment, and how he dealt with these situations in his own way.

My interpretation of this reading is that the author tries to make his audience to realize

that racism is a real issue in our society, how we are taught to believe some things about people,

for example, my family is very religious and for them having piercings and tattoos is wrong, I

love and respect my family but I don’t share the same thoughts, everyone should do what they

want with their bodies to express themselves, so society and our families can influence us to

think something about Black people, Latin people, Chinese people, but it is on us to believe it or

not, it depends on us to make a difference in how we treat people for their races or just be one

more of the group of people that discriminates. “Part of every black child’s education includes

learning how to deal with the police so he or she won’t be locked up or hurt or even killed.

Despite my advanced degrees and my light-brown skin, I’ve had police take me out of my

vehicle, threaten to bring in the dogs, and summon another two or three cars.” (Gay, 2013) This

paragraph really shocks me because none child should be educating for a situation like that, but

this is the reality, something similar happen to a black man that was pulled over for a police
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officer, he didn’t do anything wrong, he just moved a little too fast to give the officer his ID and

he got himself shoot, and I have heard so many histories like that no just in the United States, but

in my country Ecuador, you just got to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think is

moment to make a change, this can be no more, we are in XXI century, we should be thinking

about how to evolve as humans, not go back to the past were everyone discriminates for your

appearance, but this change has to start with ourselves, to show the word that you are proud of

who you are and you are not ashamed or afraid of it, then we will become a real society. “But I

had decided I’d try not to feel guilty when I next encountered the police. (…) I was tired of being

afraid.” (Gay, 2013)

This text made me feel anxious, sad and concern because of what so many people live

every day, I hadn’t experience a racist event to myself but friends and people I know did, my

aunt has lived here in United States almost for 10 years, and even with that time in the country

there are few words she doesn’t know, but is normal, she told me that one day she went to

Walmart to buy some stuff, and she couldn’t find something she need so she ask for help and

this white lady came to “help” her, my aunt tried to explain her in her own words what was she

looking for but the lady gave her this look and she just shout a woman’s name, a Latin woman

came and the white lady told her “Help this Latin” and she just go. My aunt was so angry and

offended for the way this woman express herself, but she didn’t want to make this a big of a deal

so she just went home. Last week, in business law class we were talking about different groups

of people, for example races, sexual orientation, etc. and a classmate share her experience, she

was in high school, she had this homework that her favorite teacher has send, but she couldn’t do

it because her whole family was going to visit her so she and her parents had to prepare the

house, so next day she went to talk to this teacher and she told her “I couldn’t do the homework
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because I had to clean and prepare my house” and the teacher said to her “Don’t come to me

with those Latin excuses”, she was just shocked and offended, she didn’t knew how to react so

she just leave the classroom. Back in my country, I have my best friend and he is black, I never

really care about it, but sometimes I notice when we hang out people just stare at him, like

expecting him to do something, something bad, I used to just distract him so he didn’t notice

about it, but he did it anyways, at first this kind of things really hurt him, I mean who will not be

hurt if you are treated like that? But he is a strong guy, he just kept his forehead high, and with

time he didn’t care about what people said to him or how they look at him, he just cares of what

his family and friends think of him, because that’s what matters. I remember he told me once “I

could listen to them, but that will just make me react the way they expect me to do, and I will

never give them that”. I feel related to this text because I have witness racism and even if it is not

directed towards me, it affects me anyways.

I think this text relates to my writing because I will be sharing some important

experiences of my life just as Ross Gay did. I like this type of essay because it shows an order, it

began with some facts of his life and then he found a way to make a transition to the main idea

that he wants to transmit to the reader, then he explains about his adolescence and then his

adulthood, and finally he concludes sharing one of his passions, and relate it to his life. “It is

said, and I believe it, that bees can see inside you. And yet, and yet, the bees didn’t attack. Not

one sting. They didn’t even warn me by coming toward my face. They didn’t believe what I

thought — what I imagined — was real. They knew inside me was a truth other than murder.

They had mercy.” (Gay, 2013) The way Ross Gay wrote the essay is so interesting because every

paragraph follows a sequence and they are connected with one another. Personally I think this is

something difficult to do, because you have to find the right way to communicate your thoughts,
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otherwise the reader will not understand completely the message. I would like to be able to use

this characteristic in my writing because it will allow me to express myself in a way that others

will understand what I want to say. This text motivated me to grow as a writer, to don’t be afraid

of write of the truth, to not just write down what people wants to read but the whole picture of

the topic I’m developing. “But what if we acknowledged those fears, regardless of how awful or

shameful they are? What if we acknowledged this country’s terrible and ongoing history of

imagining its own citizens — indigenous, black, Japanese American, Arab American, Latino —

as monsters?” (Gay, 2013) The setting and the plot are the elements that I focus the most

because these allow the reader to imagine and have an idea of the situations Ross Gay was into,

if you as a writer do it in a correct way you can transport the reader to this exact moment that

you are narrating, this is one the abilities I hope to develop with time in my writings.
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Works Cited
Gay, R. (July de 2013). The Sun. Obtenido de https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/451/some-
thoughts-on-mercy