Woman of Light

The Impact of Racism and Discrimination touches every aspect of life in Denver and erodes the humanizing aspects of identity. Fajardo-Anstine depicts 1930s Denver as a place where white people of European descent, referred to in the text as “Anglos,” hold power and segregate the city between themselves and BIPOC and Latinx people that they homogenize as “other.” Fueled by ignorance, fear, and sometimes hatred, many of Denver’s white, affluent citizens erase the distinctions between race, ethnicity, and cultural identity. Outside of the “Anglo” community, there is only the “other.” For example, although a person can be white and Latinx, characters of white European descent regularly conflate race with ethnicity, as though their European heritage affords them a certain “type” of prestigious whiteness—beliefs that are steeped in prejudice. Early in the novel, a shop sign warns “No Dogs or Negroes or Mexicans allowed” (10). This racist warning erases the distinctions between race, cultural identity, and even species, placing Black and Chicanx people in the same category as animals. Such dehumanizing acts illustrate one damaging aspect of racism and discrimination.

The novel includes a spectrum of acts that demonstrate racism and discrimination functioning on multiple levels. From more signs that prohibit Black, Chicanx, and Asian people from entering public parks and restaurants, to the librarians who refuse to allow Luz, a woman of Indigenous and Chicanx heritage, to look at a public job board, Denver’s BIPOC and Latinx communities are disadvantaged daily. These restrictions are at one end of the spectrum and precede harsher punishments that endanger people’s lives: For example, when Diego impregnates Eleanor Anne, who is white, her father and brothers track Diego down and beat him so savagely that Teresita must sew his face together. When David attempts to convene a grand jury to investigate a police officer known for brutalizing BIPOC and Latinx people, the KKK invades his outer office. Such crimes go unpunished by the law, illustrating that racism and discrimination even operate in state-empowered institutions.

Not only do institutions like the police permit racism and discrimination, but they actively perpetrate it: The police commit several acts of racist violence throughout the novel, including murder. The institutional strategies used to oppress BIPOC and Latinx groups include legal decisions. For example, David has a document describing white people’s interest in purchasing Chicanx families’ tenements, which would impact the Chicanx families without their foreknowledge or input. Ironically, many of Denver’s Chicanx citizens have deeper roots than the white citizens who exploit them: Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Mexican citizens received American citizenship. By contrast, many of Denver’s white residents are relative newcomers. Yet, many BIPOC and Latinx characters feel they do not belong in Denver due to the racism and discrimination they face every day, with Luz sometimes forgetting she is an American and that Denver is her home.