by Matthew Garrett

Created on: April 14, 2009

Warning, before you read this. I don't write "African Americans". I write "Blacks".
Racism in schools? Uh. Yeah? I go to a Catholic High School and there's plenty of racism.
However, lets get this straight. When you hear "Racism", I can almost safely bet one of two things come to your mind.
1. Black hate.
2. Middle-Eastern hate.

So here's the funny thing. My school is extremely racist, and there's plenty of hatred, but can you guess by who?

The black kids. They've made a small secluded group of which they all accept each other without even knowing them. Save a few kids, most of the black kids often discriminate against the white kids. They're group is exclusive and private. You can be their friends, but by no means do they view you as an equal.
The other form of racism I see QUITE often is not really racism at all. It's more location-ism. The city kids will call each other the N-word, regardless of color. They all act the same, and all dress alike. It's not that their "Wiggaz" or anything. They just all grew up in that environment.

The form of racism I see is not a hatred for a certain skin color. They're treated different, but not unequal. Often, the white kids mock the black kids, but playfully and harmlessly. The black kids also do their fair share of mocking the white kids. And same things the Asian kids to the white kids, or the Asian kids to the black kids. It's all quite playful and harmless. In my school, your race doesn't get you hated, your actions do. You can be annoying regardless of skin color. You can steal other kids' PSPs regardless of skin color. You can get a detention regardless of skin color.
It's not that the black kids often get detentions because they are black, it's that they were all raised in the same or similar situations and have near the same discipline and values.

The view on racism that people have is quite flawed. People complain about it so often, that it keeps it alive. And everyone always confuses Racism with Black hate. It's quite frustrating, because the Sudanese kids at our school are loved quite a lot. They're all fun to talk to, and everyone pretty much enjoys their presence. Except when they get rowdy, but if I went to a white 7th grader and said "You're annoying." people say I hate little kids. If I go to a black 7th grader, and said "You're annoying", word gets around and then all the black kids come after me saying I hate black people. Racism isn't what it used to be, and now my generation has to suffer for what my great great grandparents' generation did.

Now, this may not be true for all schools. This is my personal experience.

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