by Melissa Avery

Created on: May 20, 2009

As far as I know, I am White. I was raised poor White, sometimes in a trailer park, in the South. Based on the horrific stories of racism in the South, one might think that the only discriminatory acts I witnessed were against minorities. Not true.

When I was in Junior High School, or Middle School as it's known now, I was surrounded outside at lunch break by five Black girls (African - American was not even thought of then) because one of the girls thought I should have said Excuse me when I walked by her, even though I was at least 3 feet away when I passed her. The girls proceeded to push and taunt me about wearing glasses and being Poor white trash. I was terrified. Now, some might say that they were expressing their righteous anger because the White man owed them for sins past. I say they were bullies on a playground picking on someone weaker.

A few years later, in another town, while I was in High School I was physically assaulted by a boy both older and taller than myself. I had gone to the movies with friends, and being new to the area they had explained to me that there seemed to be some tension between the black and white students. My friends and I went to school at a Children's Home nearby and not the public school, so they weren't clear on what the actual problems were. As we were leaving the theater, the aisles were very crowded. I bumped into a tall black boy in front of me and said Sorry. He turned around and said Watch where you're goin', white girl and slapped me upside the temple. I was shocked more than physically hurt. I would never treat someone like that and it really scared me that other people act that way.

More recently, about 7 years ago, I lived in Yuma, Arizona. I applied for several positions for which I was qualified, but could not get a job. I was told for most of them that speaking Spanish was required. One interviewer told me in confidence that he would hire me on the spot if it were up to him, but the slot needed to be filled by a minority whether they were more qualified or not. I finally ended up waiting tables and tending bar at one of the military bases nearby. I spent thousands of dollars and years in school to spend most of my adult life serving tables or working behind a cash register because I was white.

A bully is a bully and racism is racism, no matter what color the person is perpetrating such actions. People should be hired on merit and experience, not based on what color their skin is. In a perfect world, people would see each other by their value as an individual instead of judging basing on color or what someone's ancestors may or may not have done. As a footnote; my ancestors were Irish. This entails indentured servitude, No Irish Allowed, the whole discrimination deal. So, who owes me? No one does. I'll make it on my own.

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