Alright so yesterday we had a meeting with some Latino students at school with some administrators. We talked about certain issues like racial comments in classes being ignored by teachers, how racial profiling is being committed by the school staff and how we could fix these problems.
Unfortunately the students there could only talk about all the wrong that is happening to them, it was sad to hear how the world was against them, but then again they didn't discuss what they, themselves, could do to better the situation at school. So I finally got up the courage and I told them "I don't know how all of you can just sit here and complain, we have heard you all talk about how the school system is keeping you down and how other students say racist remarks about you, but what are you guys doing to prove them wrong? Nothing! and you are still all complaining and ditching school and dropping out! You have to prove to them that their stereotypes are wrong." Everyone just stared at me and tryed to give their excuses.
We, just like every other minority are always being watched by others, everyone is always trying to find a flaw with our race. And the Media isn't helping, they always profile everyone. In movies or in TV shows you never see a colored person playing the lead role, they are always playing the bad guy, the killer the robber. We are always talking about equality but where is it? All my life I have been looking for some but still haven't seen any. Not even at school where it has been promised!
We need to stop this. We need to become colorblind and just judge a person for what they do not for what the look like.
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Sadly if you are a minority the color of your skin is what people base you off on . Black people eat chicken,drink 40's, are loud, too ghetto and very dangerous and dumb at times. Latinos smell like tortillas, eat mexican food all the time, wetbacks and so on. I am getting sick and tired of these stereotypes.Like you said we can never talk about improving the minority. We just like to down it.But we always think that the "white man " is bringing us down when sadly we bring ourselves down .
"The Man" keeps anyone who isn't upper crust white male down. I know it sounds kind of dumb, but to an extent, true. However, I think if everyone would vote, we would be the powerful majority (I'm talking classism here).
The Irish weren't considered white for a long time. I think they were "accepted into whiteness" when they united and voted in a big block. They had so much political power, politicians couldn't ignore them. All I'm saying is that people who don't fall into the category of rich need to unite and let the government know where the power really lies. WE need to redefine the status quo as multi-racial, multi-cultural working or middle class.
-Sonja :)
"Democracy works only when you vote. When you don't take the time to vote for the candidate you find the least offensive, you run the risk of electing the candidate you find the most offensive."
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva wrote about this concept in "Racism without 'Racists'" in an anthology-style textbook called "Race, Class, and Gender." Even if there isn't all of the name-calling or blatant Jim Crow-style racisms, some of the systems in place will still find a way to be racist. One example is in neighborhoods. There is still a fear of a person of color bringing down the home value in a "white" neighborhood. There are still people that insist minorities have a higher poverty rate by their own accord. These are only two examples. There are several.
I think racist stereotypes go generation to generation. Hate and ignorance breed hate and ignorance. Even if a family doesn't push racist views, someone will. It's a lot easier for a person to ignore their own responsibility in their lives and blame others- scapegoating. Right now immigrants are, as they always have been, being blamed for our poor economic status. Some people of color fall into the self-fulfilling prophecies of their stereotypes, and it sounds like that's what has happened to some students at your school.
I'm glad you haven't fallen into that trap. It's hard not to fall into what the worst people think you should be. It almost gives an excuse, not a viable one, but an excuse nonetheless.
-Sonja :)
"Democracy works only when you vote. When you don't take the time to vote for the candidate you find the least offensive, you run the risk of electing the candidate you find the most offensive."
I wonder where the future will be like? Will open minded people succeed and racism slowly becomes extinct? Or will tensions between races escalate into an even bigger problem?
I wish we were all colorblind to the extent where none of us know of these stereotypes at all.
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ROSYgirl
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If racism was to go away, we still have classism, sexism, heterosexism, etc to fall back on. (sarcasm)
-Sonja :)
"Democracy works only when you vote. When you don't take the time to vote for the candidate you find the least offensive, you run the risk of electing the candidate you find the most offensive."
Maybe it's the area that I live in, but I don't see blatant racism happening like this at all. Ever.
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You are the Voice of the Childwen of the Revowution! [Toulouse, Moulin Rouge]