I see a lot of black on white, black on hispanic attacks lately. See what happened in Jacksonville to the two white guys with the pro Zimmerman bumper sticker, what happened to the Mexican guy in Baltimore? All the playing the white guilt angle, the racism angle, the this is payback for Trayvon excuse to be a thug is not good. Doesn't address the roots of the problem or the ultimate solution..
John, IMO, there isn't a racist angle or a white guilt angle. I believe Zimmerman profiled Martin............because he was black, young and male. It happens all the time.......in city after city in this country. Its become a major problem with the Seattle PD......they are under investigation for blatant racism against minorities. In LA I watched cops beat the crap out of a black man and a Latino male on two separate occasions. In the case of the Latino male, they wanted him to walk up the hill and every time he fell they beat the crap out him with their batons. He was about 5'6" and covered in blood.......there were 5 cops. When I tried to intercede, the cops threatened me and told me to get into my house.
This has happened many thousands of times throughout this country. And its not just beating up a minority. In some parts of this country, its still open season......esp with blacks. The level of hatred among some whites is not to be believed.
Not surprisingly, the POTUS has been profiled. It happens to pretty much every black male when they are young. I have been with friends who would automatically lock their car doors whenever blacks were on a sidewalk near us. I would ask one friend if he was locking us in or trying to keep the blacks out.........it was infuriating how paranoid he was.
I believe part of this racial fear and hatred is due to the fact that many whites don't know any blacks beyond nodding their heads when passing. When I was scheduled to student teach, I met with the woman who would become my mentor teacher. Within 20 min of the interview, I realized I really liked her and wanted to spend my semester in her class room. In the meantime, kids were passing by the window........she had her back to the window so she didn't know I could see the kids. Finally, she asked me if I would consider her classroom for my student teaching semester. I said definitely...........now understand the school was a POS.........there was nothing nice about it........everything was patched and half ass. The equipment was old school.......very dated. She had a worried look on her face........I said what's wrong. Her response........I think you need to see the kids before you make a commitment. I said: I am watching them as we talk. That's when she turned around and realized kids were passing between classes. It was a minority majority school and she was worried that I would feel uncomfortable with the kids.
Let me say this.........it was an incredible semester. The kids were great and she was great. I learned so much and I had some incredible experiences. At one point I was working with six Latino boys. I befriended the one who was the ringleader......all the boys looked up to him. At the end of the semester, I found out that he was a gang banger.........and yet, he never gave me any trouble. I said I would work with him if he agreed to stay after school one day per week. He ended up convincing his friends to join us. I can't say they liked it but they did the work. Those boys went from Cs and Ds to Bs and As by the end of the semester. Now these kids weren't hard core ghetto kids but they were very poor and did not get much attention from home.
There was another kid who gave me attitude all the time and would go to sleep during class. I told him he couldn't do that any more. He was very bright. Nonetheless, on the tests or homework, he would never do the honor questions. Finally I asked him what was going on......he said he didn't feel like doing them; that he would do them next year. I told him that didn't make any sense. He just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. The very next test he did all the honors questions and did them for the rest of the semester. Never went to sleep in my class. He was another poor Latino kid......and he would question me every inch of the way but if my explanation made sense to him, he would do what I was saying.
I could go on and on with story after story..........but the point I am making is that these kids were more receptive to positive input than many white kids. And I think that's because they don't get a lot of attention at home for a whole host of reasons. When they do get someone who cares and respects them and is trying to help them, they will put out. Whenever the principal would come into the classroom, these kids would perform like they were on stage. And I think it was as much to make me look good as it was to make themselves look good.
Of course, I had bad experiences......but never once did I feel fear or feel threatened in any way. And trust, some of these guys were over 6' and built like defense backs. In fact, some of the girls were built like Serena Williams and could have taken me. ;)
We need to get over our fears......both sides do........it is hurting this country. |
