As a natural observer I tend to hear things, see things, about things im not supposed to here or see. So today as I was siiting in the office, as an office aid, not a trouble maker...i see the kids who come in who really are in trouble and i hear the reasons why. One big problem in my school is racial profiling and racial slurs, ok its not a HUGE deal, but maybe thats just because teachers and prinicipals and other authoritative figures dont want to make it that way! Simply because lawsuits and driscrimination laws.
However, my school has a well rounded variety of people, but i would have to say the it's a prodominently black school, with a healthy mixture in between. But just because im white and 50 years ago blacks had to fight for their rights, (which by the way im a huge fan of martin luther king jr. and i personally think that our country doesnt honor him well enough) doesnt give people the right to say i now have to fight for mine. And that now im the minority, because i believe in equal rights, and i believe in equal oppurtunity, and im strongly againest racial profiling, just because i know how hard life already is, i dont need you calling me a honke because im white! I dont go around calling you names, and when people do i say not to around me because i dont appreciate it.
So why the struggle? How come i have to feel that i need to fight for my rights, and in order to protect my rights principals cant discipline you, because bam its a racial thing...and he or she is only doing that because thats a white girl and im black? So as im sitting in my office aid class a child gets into trouble, phones are not allowed out during school hours, and when asked to give her phoone up she yelled its because im black. Tells her mom that seeing as how the assistant principal was white, however our principals are broken into catergories, my school has four AP and one actual principal (just to show you the size of my school) and her actual principal is black, so when he called her mom the first thing out of her moms mouth was its because she is black and yall are just a bunch of hicks living in texas. Principal simply goes no mam im a black educated man who came from california the place to my understanding where your living right now.
DId racism ever actually end, or do we use it now as a cover up to not get ourselves into trouble? We all know the laws, we all know the rules, so why does it matter if your white black purple green or orange, were students in a high school, which is very accredited, very well known for athletics (state qualifiers in football, regional in swimming, district and regional qualifiers in volleyball ,and womens basketball, many people from our school are athletes of some sort, and hold records, and high standings through out the state) academics (we have students who have made it into the most prestigous ivy league schools) theatre, JROTC, and many other organizations such as band, cheer, and dance( who hold national championships) So what does it matter, most of us work as a team most of the time, but were still forced to feel like outsiders for some reason, like we dont fit i due to our skin color. Personally i say get over it and move on with life.
That is a touchy subject. One I am familiar with. So uncomfortable it is to be called a racist. I feel as with any struggle there are abuses of good causes. The hippie movement in the sixties was a bunch of disillusioned burnouts latching on to a movement to disprove capitalism. The anti-war movement was headed up by the Communist party. All progressive movements throughout this country in the last 60 years have been yes thanks to organizing, funding from the Communist party. Of course for me to prove this I would have to have access to a database that the U.S. government says does exist but cannot provide any other access or information on.
At my school we're very diverse and it's not a big problem. Of course there's racial niches but as far as I've seen no major problems have occured throughout my highschool career. I hope to say the same as I finish up.
My mom's a teacher in a pretty rowdy public school, so she has to handle a lot of disciplinary problems and whatnot, and she gets unjustly blasted just like your assistant principal did. And it sucks, because my mom doesn't see the children in her class through racial lenses, but a lot of the kids' parents see her as just this White Teacher. It's sad, but I definitely think humankind is a long way from ever overcoming such prejudices..let's keep hoping though, yeah?
A book you may enjoy reading:
"White Privilege" edited by Paula S. Rothenberg. It is eye opening. Highly recommended to anyone considering questions of race.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman