ESL
by Tom Smith

SCENE ELEVEN
The next morning. School. On the outside of Jesús' locker are the spray-painted words "ESL" and "Go back to Mexico ." Jesús enters with Ofelia.

JESÚS

¡Mira eso! [Look!]

OFELIA

Oh my God…!

JESÚS

Eso es lo que tus dizque amiguitos le hicieron a mi casillero. [This is what your so-called friends did to my locker.]

OFELIA

We don't know who did this.

JESÚS

No te hagas pendeja! Claro que sabemos: fueron los gringos. [Yes, we do. The white kids. They're all guilty.]

OFELIA

Why would they do this?

JESÚS

Porque aquí no quieren a los mexicanos. Te lo dije, me voy a regresar a Juárez. Al menos ahí la gente no es racista. [Because they don't like Mexicans here. I told you! I'm going back to Juárez. At least there, people aren't racist.]

OFELIA

They're racist in Juárez , too. Against "gringos."

JESÚS

¡Por eso! Además, todos los chismes de ti… [And this is why! Plus, all that gossip about you…]

OFELIA

People know that gossip about me isn't true.

JESÚS

¡Eso crees tu! Entonces, ¿por qué ayer dos tipos me preguntaron que si era cierto? [Do they? Then why did two guys come up and ask me yesterday?]

OFELIA

Everyone's just being stupid.

JESÚS

¡No! Lo que pasa es que nadie quiere ver caras que no sean blancas en esta escuela. ¡Al diablo! Le voy a decir a mi tía que yo me quiero regresar antes de que las cosas se pongan peor. [No! everyone is telling us they don't want brown faces in their white school. Screw this! I'm telling your mom to send me back home before this stuff gets worse.]
(He storms off, passing Trey.)
Te apuesto que el sabe quien hizo esto. ¡A ver, pregúntale! [I bet he knows who did this! Ask him!]
(Jesús exits.)

TREY

Ask me what?

OFELIA

Why would someone do something like this?

TREY

I don't know. Nothing like this has ever happened here before.

OFELIA

"ESL." I mean, it's a stupid insult. It doesn't even make sense.

TREY

I heard they're going to inspect everyone's locker to see if they can find out who did this.

OFELIA

What good will that do?

TREY

Whoever did this needs to get punished.

OFELIA

No one cares. I mean, the entire school has been by to look at this but no one has said anything to Jesús. Not a word.

TREY

I care!

OFELIA

Well, you're one out of a thousand. The school won't even paint over it because they said it's evidence. They're going to leave it up until they figure out who did it. How humiliating is that?

TREY

I can't imagine how badly Jesús must feel…

OFELIA

No, you can't imagine it, Trey, can you? I mean, you'll never know how it feels to have an act of violence against you because of the color of your skin.

TREY

You see this as an act of violence?

OFELIA

It's a hate crime.

TREY

But no one got hurt.

OFELIA

Jesús did. I did. Santino and Tania and Lucero and all the other Hispanics in this school are hurt by this. Did one of us end up in the hospital? No. But are we hurt by this? Deeply. This has changed this school forever. None of us are ever going to truly feel safe here anymore.