Reading #3 (pg. 99-132) (4) Why does Rowdy call Junior Racist? Is he right? - Athena

Is it considered racist for someone of a color to like someone of a different color that has more privileges and rights than the other? You could argue that they are only in love with the other not because of who they are but because of what they have and the skin color that gives them the right to have it. However I say, in Junior's case, that's not all true.
Rowdy and Junior have a little chat over e-mail about Junior being in love with a white girl. Rowdy replies to Junior how hundreds of Mexican girls go missing and nobody really cares but when one white girl goes missing, its all over the news. He thinks that Junior is racist, like everyone else because he likes a white girl. Rowdy has also said before that Junior is stupid for liking Dawn, an Indian girl. Rowdy seems to look down on every girl Junior likes, no matter what skin color they are.
"She tracked the ball with her blue eyes. Just watched it intensely. Like that volleyball mattered more than anything else in the world. [Junior] got jealous of that ball. [He] wished [he was] that ball." (Alexie 115). According to this quote, Junior wanted to be the ball that mattered more than anything else in the world to Penelope. It was more about wanting to be what Penelope had and not wanting what she had. Junior described in detail about how beautiful and gorgeous Penelope is.  He is so in love with her that he even sent an email to his best "frenemy" about it. You can argue that deep down he's just being a racist bastard, but if "[you] almost fainted when she was [serving]," (Alexie, 115), then you have definitely fallen in love - hard.
On the surface, Junior looks like he loves Penelope because she is a white girl, but underneath all that was a bond that held them closer - something they both earned for. "- Indian boys weren't suppose to dream like that. And white girls from small towns weren't supposed to dream big, either." (Alexie, 112). However, both of them dream big. Penelope dreams of building something that can make her remembered, and Junior wants to create more hope for the Indians. Although Junior admitted that he "mostly loved to look at her" (Alexie 113), he drew a cartoon of her, and he drew cartoons to express himself; he drew cartoons to make amends between Rowdy and him; he drew cartoons of the important people in his life. Penelope, of all the people, opened up to him, and although each was using the other to have a better life (a smudge or more popularity), later, Junior did fall in love. Rowdy says it's racist for an Indian boy to like a white girl, and that could be true, but love doesn't have boundaries. Some people will tamper with love, but for Junior that is not the case.