In my city, there's an incredibly diverse population of people, ranging from blacks and whites to the Guyanese and Pakistanis. My high school has over 2,700 kids enrolled in it. You would think that with this many kids, and with such varying backgrounds, some form of acceptance would be reached. Although it's true for the most part, the instances where I do see intolerance and racism in our school are shocking.
Often, we will be sitting casually in one of our classes when someone will say something stupid. For example, one of my friends is Asian, and people will nonchalantly mistake her for a different ethnicity, because she "looks white". Once someone argued with her about her own race, insisting she wasn't Chinese. Occasionally, I will elicit the question, "What are you?" from someone inquisitively studying my face. Other times, kids will turn to race as an excuse as to why they're treated a certain way, blaming teachers on disciplining them because of their skin color or saying the girl they got rejected by was racist. While that's another story in its own, it is sometimes, disparagingly true.
But the worst for of racism that I have witnessed has been the hush-hush conversations I overhear in my classes or hallways. The Guyanese population in my city dramatically increased a few years ago when many families moved to upstate New York from the city and outlying boroughs of New York City. Since I was a freshman, people would make snide remarks about how the Guyanese smelled like curry, or were inexplicably obnoxious. Now in my senior year, I have literally heard people shaking their heads and saying that they "just don't like" the Guyanese. I just don't understand it. Every person I've met has been different, and I have never once met someone who made me change my view on their entire race. Why is skin color and culture such a big deal?
I think no one realizes that maybe our Big Macs are just as weird to those from other cultures as Tandoori chicken is to some of us. Maybe one day they will, but until then, I'll just start trying to change things within my classroom's conversations.
I live in New York City and went to public schools here ever since 5th grade. Although my class has a lot of kids with different background from all over the world, I wouldn't say that there is less racism in New York than there is in any smaller states. Because of the diversity, we seem more like we're more open to people from all race. Maybe that statement holds some truth. However, New Yorkers tend to deal with racism behind closed doors. We do not say it out loud like people in the South perhaps, but we do say it. I have the same problem too, and hopefully...one day I will get over it.
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