Answer:
Negative biases affected Jesús Colón by making him not help a woman because she might perceive him as a threat due to his color and nationality.
We can see that Jesús Colón has good intenetions since he wants to help the young lady with her children and luggage. For example, we can see it when he says, " Courtesy is a characteristic of the Puerto Rican. And here I was- Puerto Rican hours past midnight, a valise, two white children and a white lady with a baby on her arm [badly] needing somebody to help her..." However, there is an internal battle inside of him since he knows that he is an immigrant and a person of color. That is to say, racism, prejudice, chauvinism, and artificial divisions act against him, making society worse. We can see this when he says, "But how could I, a Negro and Puerto Rican, approach this white lady, who very likely might have preconceived prejudices about Negroes and everybody with foreign accents, in a deserted subway station very late at night?... Would she say: yes, of course, you may help me. Or would she think that I was just trying to get too familiar? Or would she think worse than that perhaps?"
In conclusion, we can see that Jesús Colón is a good man, but due to the negative biases towards black people and immigrants, he can not show that he is a good person willing to help.
Step-by-step explanation:
Jesús Colón was a Puerto Rican writer who lived in New York, where he experienced discrimination due to his color and language since he did not speak English well. He started to write about his experiences as a black immigrant and how racism impacted America.
In "Little Things are Big." Colón tells his personal experience in a subway in the 1950s. We can see how he is aware that due to his skin color and accent he might be perceived as a threat towards others due to social constructions that result in negative biases towards people like him.
In the narrative, he wants to help a lady struggling in the subway with her children and luggage, but he decides against it to not scare the woman. Not helping a woman in the subway may be a little thing. However, it is a big thing due to all the reasons that are behind it. The reasons are the prejudice, artificial divisions, racism, and chauvinism that are part of American culture.