Diversify the Classified |
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Posted on February 21 2010 under Community
 By Kathy Hoang
Diversify: To give variety to; vary Classified: Arranged or distributed in classes or according to class A small, Asian girl heads to her first class, holding her books loosely in her arms, talking to a friend. She waves to a group of African-American guys, people from her math class. They wave and nod back. Once they are in class, they sit down at her friend’s desk to chat, only to be bothered by another kid. He pulls at his eyes and calls them names, in a seemingly humorous tone. Her friend whispers, “Just ignore him.” She sighs and gets up to leave, feeling too angry to stay. Later, during lunch, she glances around the huge cafeteria, trying to spot her friends in the thick crowd. No, not at the ‘black’ table. Nope, not at the Assyrian table either. Not sitting with the white people either. Finally she saw them sitting one table away from the Asian table (literally called, the Asian Table) where she would’ve sat if she couldn’t find her friends. She joined them, grinning. After school, she says goodbye to some friends, and she turns and to see a Caucasian guy behind her. She smiles and steps toward him for a hug, which was a way for her to say goodbye, but he steps back, and jokingly says, “Sorry. I don’t hug Asians.” It hurt, but her smile only faltered slightly. She shrugged, and simply said, “Fine.” He tried to say he was joking, but she had already turned around and began to walk away. She had started to notice that people treated others differently because of race, and it was starting to bother her more and more, especially when it was directed at her. She knew most of them were only joking, but it still hurt. She knew she had to make a change. How would I know this? How would I know what she wanted or what she was thinking? Well, that’s because that little Asian girl is me. Not even a week ago, I was just like other teenagers - making racist jokes. That is, until I noticed something about my everyday school lifestyle. Most students hung out with others from their own race, and almost every other sentence out of a person’s mouth tended to be filled with racist jokes and mean words. Why did people at my school treat each other this way? I went to the school's diversity committee to find out. I recently joined my school’s diversity committee, and soon I was off on a trip to Tim Horton’s Camp to learn more. On this trip, we learnt many things about diversity, but that wasn’t all. We were taught and encouraged to think of ways to make our school surroundings more diverse. This is one way for me to tell others of my experience. Diversity is a problem that everyone sees, but seldom do people do anything about it. Have you ever noticed how people associate gangsters with African-Americans? Terrorists to be Assyrian or Iraqi? Presidents to be white or Caucasian? I realized that you need to be informed about the different things that go on all around you, the things that come out of your mouth, and the way people “assume” they know all about you just because of your skin colour. When you look at a stranger, and you want to describe them, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Why is it that when people see a little white girl, they will just call her a little girl, but when they see an African-American girl, they add the adjective “black” to the beginning of the description? What we do or say could be offensive to others. People hang out with others from their own race because they understand each other more. I decided that I needed to learn more from the rest of the student body, other then the members of the diversity committee. I asked four of my friends first (One Italian, One Assyrian, One Vietnamese and one Cambodian) if they thought they saw racism at school. Two out of the four said yes, while the other two said no. In under a minute, the two changed their minds, once the first two pointed out that within our own circle we have been racist before. Not wanting to limit it to just my friends, I went around asking other Grade 9 students. I started with a very simple question: “Do you see racism in our school?” One student, Onel Khramo, said, “Sometimes, but it’s all jokes.” He also stated that people really don’t get offensive unless something is said directly to them. He told me that if I wanted to see his reaction to racism, I’d have to say something racist to him first. I refused, and left it at that. Another student I interviewed was African-American. "Do you see racism in our school?" I asked. “Not really. I mean, I have friends from all races, and we’re all friends here.” “Then why do you always hang out with others that are, well, black?” He was speechless, and it was a while before he could said, “I don’t know.” Racism isn’t even noticed, at least, not until someone points it out. I soon realized that I had just interviewed Grade 9 students and St. Jean de Brebeuf students. I needed different perspectives, so I turned to other students from other schools. Do they have the same problem that I see at my school? Matthew Aromin, a student at St. Thomas More, answered my interview questions. He said that at his school, racism came in jokes, although he did notice that people often hung out with their own race. For Jezeth Esmas, a student at Cathedral High School racism is only visible during “rap wars”. A rap war happens when a group of people rap or beat box to see who is the better performer. Rap wars typically occur between “blacks” and “whites” although it is not limited to just those groups of people. Anyone with talent can participate. Esmas said that the students at her school only hung out with others from their race during lunch, and the rest of the time the groups of friends would be mixed. How can we change it? Change is needed. Only when we have self-control over what we do and say, could we start to help others learn more about diversity. It’s all about being informed. To make a change, there has to be teamwork, but everyone must know what their own roles are before they can really put together a plan. I have signed a petition vowing to stop telling racist jokes and to take responsibility for what I say to other people. Tell others that you do not want racist jokes told around you and stop telling jokes. Get involved with your school's diversity committee to learn more. Diversity isn’t just about racism, but you have to start small, before you can grow. “Everything is connected to each other,” said a counsellor during my trip. One simple word, one simple vow, one simple signature on a simple petition could change someone’s life. And this may not seem all that important, but think about it: what if that someone was you? |
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