Racism Is Extinct, Sexism Never Existed
The population of the high school where I teach is quite diverse, approximately 51% White, 47% Black, 2-3% Hispanic, and under 1% Asian students. This was quite a different setting for me seeing as the high school that I attended had 1 Black student and 1 Asian, the rest were White students, the average students was middle class regardless of ethnicity. I think that it would be a fair assessment to say that the average student in the high school where I teach is lower middle class.
According to the principal there is not a race problem in our school. I honestly believe that he thinks that, he is a good man that has seen a lot. Last year when I was teaching choir a small argument broke out between a white student and a black student. The white student said some hateful things but the black student was the bigger person and let it go when I told them to calm down. I approached the principal to ask him what I should do, and he said not to worry about it…racism isn’t a problem in our school. Again, he’s seen a lot so I’m sure that it’s not as bad today as it was even five years ago; however, I knew something bad was going to happen. Sure enough (how about that southern slang coming out in my writing?) the next day the white student called the black student the “N” word. Fortunately the black student didn’t let it go and ended up pounding the white kid, I think that he got 8 or 9 punches in before my husband pried him off. I was proud of the black student for standing up for himself, this kid deserved to get his butt kicked. Both students were suspended for 10 days, the white student moved to another county because he knew that returning to school would put him in grave danger.
It was at this point that I started thinking about racism…could it really be that people in this day and age are still judging people by the color of their skin? Disgustingly the answer is yes, so my thoughts drifted to affirmative action. When I lived in the north I didn’t believe in affirmative action, the minority students at my high school were treated equally, every one was given the same opportunity to succeed and they were expected to live up to the expectations (and they did). Not here…not with every teacher. Some teachers baby certain races, some teachers discipline certain races more than others, and it’s not just a black student issue. Some people discriminate against white people, Hispanics, Asians, every group has another that is prejudice against them.
Affirmative action, the word even sounds outdated and over used. Yet I think that it is still necessary, at least when looking at college admissions. It may need to be revised to assist ALL students from impoverished backgrounds that want a shot at learning, but we still need it to break the poverty cycle. Students that live in a low socio-economic environment need it more than anything; they cannot compete with students that come from well funded schools. Just because a student has not been given the best public education does not mean that he or she does not deserve an excellent shot at college. I could go on to prove my point, but I don’t feel that it is necessary. Most people know the difference between an excellent school and a failing school, and if you don’t then research it…the numbers will astound you.
Most politicians, regardless of party, don’t understand this great divide in our education system. Just because education is public does not mean that it is equal. I would be willing to say that the majority of politicians never had a hard time getting a good education, although there may be a few. When we consider what the Democrats must to do gain support I think that it is imperative that they begin to look at these people, the young and hopeless, and help them and their families by supporting an initiative to give these students a fair shot at becoming productive citizens and not criminals.
I don’t know why but it seems that no one wants to address the racism issue here. It’s like a bunch of dust bunnies, everyone wants to sweep it under the carpet and not talk about it. Maybe it is just that I am privileged, I was given the opportunity to be a first generation college student and that is where I learned that we should talk about such things and speak our mind because sometimes it just takes one voice to make a change.
Sexism is nonexistent. The comment that I wrote about earlier was just a student exercising his first amendment rights and he couldn’t be disciplined for it. I also was informed by an administrator today that as long as a student makes an offensive comment in the absence of people that he is making the offensive comment to then it is perfectly acceptable. I was livid because if it was a racist statement the student in question would be at least suspended for a few days, but I bit my tongue. I try to teach tolerance and manners in my classroom, a code of conduct if you will, and this was a slap in the face to everything that I stand for.
Another fine example of sexism that supposedly does not exist is that a student asked my husband why he allows me to drive his car. I have my license and contribute to paying the bills…so it’s my car too. But the student was confused “My daddy doesn’t let my mama drive when he’s in the car, that’s the man’s job. I wouldn’t let your wife drive that car, she’s probably a bad driver.” And then there was the time that a male student felt that it was his place to reprimand me for being late getting to my classroom in the morning (I had a perfectly good reason why I was three minutes late, but that’s not the point!). There have been very few times in my life that I have felt like I was being treated differently because I was a woman…this was one of them. The way he spoke to me was so demoralizing, but there is no such thing as sexism…it’s just people exercising their freedom of speech. I find it very interesting that when it’s sexist they are just exercising their first amendment right, but when Howard Stern wants to make a fart joke he’s being obscene and needs to be fined and censored. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?!?!?!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Democrats need to turn the tables on the morality issue. If they could just get across a message of tolerance I think that they can gain the support that they so desperately need and so painfully desire. I still believe that deep down inside most people are decent human beings, we just need to remind them that they are.
Comments
Another pointed post. Race has been a stand-in for class in the U.S. pretty much from the get-go. Various groups have successfully used racial animosity to divide the working class and so weaken it, and that kind of thing still goes on. How can church-going Baptist working people living in the same county in Virginia have anything but common interests? Yet if a family is black the chances are that it is a Democratic family, and if it is white it is more likely Republican.
Sexism? I can't even get started on that. I just hope some Blue Monkey regulars can help us out there.
Posted by: Blue Monkey | November 17, 2004 10:51 PM
i would only comment it I thought it wouldn't be deleted.
Posted by: Ambrose | November 19, 2004 12:33 AM
This is so true in the south. I should know, I have lived in it all my life. Many people in the South have a hard time realizing their prejudices or acknowledging their prejudices. They assume that is how life should be, and that isn't the case at all. I remember hearing one time when I was at a function in Georgia that "negroes were born an inferior race, look at them in history, they didn't have the technology or development that white people had at the time." All I have to say to that comment--less is more. They didn't need the technological advancement of Europeans to be a well established people on the African continent. Nonetheless, it is rather disheartening that comments like that are still being said.
I went to a convenience store one time with my black friend just right across the Potomac River in Virginia, in fact it was the county next to ChesterArthur's and the woman said, "sorry hun, but we don't serve ni$$as here." I was sixteen at the time, dumbfounded and scared. I didn't know what to do, so I just left with my friend. How does this happen in the new millenium. Racism is still pervasive in the South, and so is sexism.
Sexism was a rather new issue to me when I came to Seton Hill. I didn't realized it existed. I never knew it, because all the women in my family were very strong women. They knew what they wanted, and they were willing to put up a fight for it, even in relationships with their spouses. However, now that I look back in retrospect, these strong women in my family did suffer gender discrimination. The glass ceiling once revealed itself in my family history. My aunt was an executive for a company and was the next in line for the vice-presidency of the company. Well, when the position became available the company (completely run by males)put a less qualified male there. I know this because I knew the well the man who took my aunt's position. There are NO women in this company, higher than any clerical position. My aunt was the first one. So, she quit and started her own company and outproduced the original company she worked for.
However, things like this are inexcusable. Chester, the comment made about women driving that was directed should not exist. This is when I feel it is our job as educators to make this children aware of gender discrimination, or just make them question the value framework that they hold. Sometimes the south seems so antiquated, I feel like that I drove into the 1950's. It has its charming way, but the strict moral codes that are reinforced in the value framework of children, make you realize that the very things we fail to see in college, but talk about exist everywhere. They just don't talk about it.
I agree with Blue Monkey. It is so frustrating, and all you want to do sometimes is just hate those people, but then you realize that you are not better than they, because that is exactly what they are doing. So then you just have to become an example, stand for what is right, and hope that is the best.
Posted by: JustinNorris | November 29, 2004 1:10 AM