Quote:
Originally posted by carol9a
I can relate to two of those teens in that story. Most of my life, I have been in "gifted and talented" classes. In my jr. high GT class, I was one of only two hispanic kids in there. Since the majority of my classmates were white, I made mostly white friends and starting listening to punk rock and alternative. They witnessed to me, and I also started attending a southern baptist church. Unfortunately, the hispanic kids at this school would harass me constantly, calling me "white-washed" and "graham cracker" and made fun of me because I went out with white guys. Although all this really hurt me, I really didnt care. I was better than these people who would brag about skipping class, or having access to condoms at 13, or brag about getting a 13 on their math test. The only thing I hated was that when I got recognized for top ten twice or when I was recognized in UIL, they suddenly wanted to "claim" me and tell everyone that the hispanics are "reppin". Give me a break.
Although I still didnt really fit in with some hispanic people in high school, I made friends with some but I connected more to the people in my newspaper class. It wasnt until I joined an internship program called inroads that I met some hispanic people who were as dorky as me. 
Although I understand Cosby's anger (because its the same anger I've shared many times in my life), the whole last paragraph of this article is absolutely true. He can express his anger all he wants, but it IS a matter of cultural re-adjustment. Not to mention, he can rant and rave all he wants, but what is he gonna do about it?
ETA: I am also pleasantly surprised to see a mention of a dominican person, sharin' my pain! lol, yay DR!!
|
I understand that what happened to you hurt and made you angry, the same things happend to me growing up. However, I think instead of criticising those kids, we need to look at the things they were saying to you (and I) and think about why they feel those ways. There is a lot of inner turmoil that people of ethnic minority groups struggle with, especially in countries with histories like the U.S. In this modern social trend of sweeping things under the rug and denouncing, scoffing at, etc. any mention of the word race or racism, there is a reluctance to deal with that. I agree with Cosby, as I said before, but I also feel that there is so much more to these issues and just putting generic labels on people or throwing out criticisms like he did isn't really going to solve anything. I don't think there is enough fire behind the majority of the people in this country, government included, to really make some fundamental social and cultural changes that would bring about significant changes in communities this article talks about. Until then, there will continue to be empty talk and criticisms.