Jesus Colon is a man who talks about his past. He saw a white woman with her children and one suit case when he was on a late night train in New York. He and she were getting off at the same station and it looked like she needed help. He thought, 'Should I offer my help?' However Jesus Colon hesitated; it is because he was uncertain. 'What would the white lady say, what would be her first reaction, and will she accept my help or would she think I am trying to get too familiar or even worse than that?' All these thoughts came into his mind. He put himself in the groups of black people, he was not sure the white people would appreciate him. He had hard time making a decision, and there was the white woman desperately needing help. If he was a white American, he would have definitely offer help without any hesitation, because there was no reason to not help the lady, but that wasn't the reality. He, like an rude animal, escaped the reality. He ran upstairs ignoring the woman's gaze. Leaving someone needing help behind like you never saw him/her didn't feel very nice. He regretted it. He felt guilt. He felt shame. Therefore, he made a promise to himself. If he were to be in a situation like that again, he will offer help no matter how they will react to it, and so he can keep his courtesy.
So who is the victim in this story-Colon, the woman, or the larger society? I would say both the woman and Colon were victims. The women didn't have any choice to get help, and it all depended on Colon. It was for Colon to choose and Colon chose not to help her.Howvere, Colon's identity was created by the way society judges people of colour. Colon was hurt by the differentiation with the white people and black people. He wanted to help but because he was black and different from others, he thought that this white woman might not like his help, might feel threatened by him. In the end, he was not brave enough to speak to the lady and felt guilt with his actions. He knows he is more than one aspect of his identity- 'black' or Puerto Rican, he is also kind, caring courteous, yet he feels this woman would only see and judge him by one piece of his identity.
The Jesus Colon incident relates to the 'Blokes' In this story by Alan Gibbons, the Kosovan boy is treated differently because he is not white and because he is not one of 'the Blokes', a white racist group of bullies. At first he tried to ignore the fact but later on, he accepts the truth; the ruined Kosovan village, and sorts it out his own way just like Jesus Colon.
The author of this picture is Juan Sepulveda. The picture is depicting a boy reaching out hand to help. The faces on the cliff are looking sad. Maybe the boy tried to help but someone fell off the cliff? In that case the boy would be Jesus Colon and already fallen person would be white lady because Jesus Colon failed to help the lady. But the picture matched the situation very well.
His story reminded me of a incident as well. It was about 2 years ago, when I went to Korea for vacation and were in a shopping center with my family. I bought a hat for my grandfather and was going up the escalator to go eat. There was a grandma going up and she was carrying a heavy bag. On the half-way she lost her balance and fell. I acted exact opposite from Jesus Colon. I ran towards her as quick as I can and helped her go up. So unlike Jesus Colon, I don't have any regrets.
This video gave me some big impressions. What things actually change our identity? I wasn't very sure. And he , Jesus Colon, gave me the answer. How you look at yourself and little tiny experiences change our identity, that was what he told me through the video.Colon as a black Puerto Rican must have experienced discrimination or racial insults in his life so that this made him pause when he went to help the white woman with things in her hands .This video clip was a great video to see, because it made me look back on my past experiences that have shaped my identity. and how I should change now.
The painting
-The video
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