With so much attention focused on Haiti earthquake relief efforts, Pierre Garcon continues to field questions this week about his ethnic heritage, but one question in particular caught him off guard Thursday morning:

“There’s a widespread debate in this country, particularly in South Florida, over immigration policy, and with that comes racial prejudice. Have you yourself ever encountered it?”

Initially Garcon downplayed ever experiencing racial prejudice. But then he admitted that people have had preconceived notions about him because of his family’s origins.

“Sometimes outsiders or people who aren’t Haitian look at you differently because you’re from a poor island,” he said.

Garcon said he encountered it in middle school and high school.

“People don’t know what you go through," he said. "They paint a picture of what you are and what all Haitians are and just go off of that.”

"You can’t listen to it. You can’t waste your time on someone telling you what you are. You define yourself.”

-- JENNA LAINE
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