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Post by Tara on Feb 1, 2005 12:10:14 GMT -5
Have you ever, in your lifetime, felt that you have been discriminated against? This can range from race, color, creed, age, sexuality, etc.
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Post by PhantomsPandora on Feb 1, 2005 14:29:18 GMT -5
Off the top of my head I can't remember(it doesn't mean it hasn't happened, it means that I'm having a massive brain fart right now lol), but I did spend a lot of my time growing up defending others.
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Post by littlepea on Feb 2, 2005 8:37:04 GMT -5
i don't think i have, but then i'm a white male, so even if i was discriminated against it's not such a big deal.
what about you, tara?
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Post by Tara on Feb 2, 2005 9:12:18 GMT -5
As an African American female living in the states, it's something I always feel the need to look out for. For example, my boyfriend is white. My family doesn't care, but I was afriad his family would. But it was quite the opposite and they were very loving towards me. But other times if we're hanging out or going shopping, I feel self-conscius because people still haven't grown up on both the African American side and the whites. I'm not saying everyone is like this, but it can be difficult at times. I live in a suburban community. Socially in America, that's mostly middle-class to the rich white people. In my opinion, most of the people here need to get out more. They say things that I find offensive lots of times and I think at times they do not realize what they are saying. They have so many strange opinions of people that live in cities that only are 25 minutes away from where they live. At the school I go to, there have been cases where there have been hints of Neo-Nazism. Being the president of Diversity Club last year, I went up to the principle and asked him if he was going to let parents in the community know about what's going on in school. Usually they would send something with every student home whenever anything happens such as drug busts (yes, lots of drug busts in suburbia, they just don't tell you) and the presence of weaponry amongst the students. The principle said 'no' because he didn't want it to get out basically. That made me angry. And then one day after the Nazi incident I wanted to set up a day where we could all come into school and dress up from traditions all over hte world because I know a lot of the student body was interested in that. The principle was iffy because he was afraid the Neo-Nazis would do something, but he allowed me to get it organized anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if our school is one of many that sweep it under the rug. But other schools have been known to get onto the news by the wishes of the principles because the principles want action taken on students who promote hatred in the schools. All the children who did the same acts at my school only got a few days suspension. Just because the school I go to get supposedly good ratings they seem it would be safer to sweep everything under the rug. But that's when things start to boil and one thing happens after another. I'm not entirely sure if the administration at my school is discriminatory. I really don't know. I do think they are foolish and naive, especially the way they treat students who cause trouble and even those who do not cause trouble but may end up on the accused line one way or another. It's rather ridiculous when you think about it. That's all I can think of at the moment, but there are many little incidents that happen all over that get overlooked and people do nothing about it. But I like how after I became president of the Diversity Club, there was more ethnic and racial diversity. Before it was only white students. I guess the minorities were shy, but things have changed and I'm hoping my mark will have made a way for others.
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Post by PhantomsPandora on Feb 2, 2005 9:20:13 GMT -5
I dated a black guy in junior high. I know, long time ago, but I got it from both sides "are you aware you're dating so and so?" LOl like I wasn't aware. And that was when they were being kind. The thing is, I was so little then, it's not like there was anything to it, other than we just met and hugged, stuff like that.
This guy ended up being my best buddy, still is. When I got to high school the people at school never forgot it..but that school was a horrible place..I think these group of children were just bullies period and would do anything to start you know what, sometimes they used race as a reason, and it got dangerous.(and I mean both sides there, I didn't know there could be hate on both sides) I heard after I left they got a new principal who won't put up with any BS, and I'm greatful for that. The school district just was bad news(like out of five stars, it gets one, five is a good grade).
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Post by PhantomsPandora on Feb 2, 2005 9:34:11 GMT -5
Tara, I noticed that about my high school as well, they were really quick to hide anything was going on, meanwhile people were getting threats against their lives.
There were several stabbings that went on, a person I knew got chased down the hall and got his tounge ring ripped out, he almost died because of that crap. All the while, the only way parents knew anything was word of mouth.
I'm really glad that you have made a difference, Tara. Hopefully a lot more people will join soon.
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Post by dianaholberg on Feb 2, 2005 11:42:10 GMT -5
Yes, Tara... it sounds like you're making some inroads. PM me the details of your events and I'll contact the local media for you... might get you some coverage [ ]
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Post by littlepea on Feb 2, 2005 17:15:48 GMT -5
in scotland there aren't many african black people, though there are quite a lot of pakistanis, indians, bangladeshis and other asians from around that sort of area and there's often conflict between these people and white people.
in my school there were quite a lot of asians and there was one incident which made it into a national newspaper (a broadsheet newspaper, not just a tabloid) where a bunch of asian kids beat up a white kid cos they thought he said something racist about them. he never did, in fact, but someone told them that they heard someone else talking about what they overheard in the corridor etc. and it was all a big misunderstanding. the pupils got suspended for a while, but nothing more, i don't think.
it wasn't very serious, but the (private) school i went to used to be considered as one of the best in the country and for some reason the papers loved to embarrass it whenever possible.
by the way, tara, what do you think about affirmative action programs, like positive discrimination etc.? think it's a good idea or do you find it condescending or what?
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Post by Tara on Feb 2, 2005 18:16:46 GMT -5
I'm not sure. I was going to bring this up in my last post, but I simply thought it was too long. lol This is something I have to think about now seeing as I'm applying for schools and all. My advisor from Diversity Club last year thinks that I should do it. I never asked why...it's such a touchy subject, but I'm thinking I should probably ask. Some people think...why even bother asking which race? I don't know what I think though...
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Post by littlepea on Feb 2, 2005 20:53:22 GMT -5
i'm not sure exactly how it works, though in my law course we were lectured on the case of Allan Bakke for a few weeks (the course was called "legal reasoning & legal systems"). in that case, allan bakke applied for some kind of special entrance exam to a university in california (i think) which was open for people with under-priveliged backgrounds. quite a few people sat the exam but the only ones that were accepted were black students (or something like that) and it turned out that the examiners had decided only to accept the black students who got the highest grades. it was discrimination against allan bakke because of the colour of his skin, so the california supreme court ruled that the university was at fault and eventually had to let him study there. but all the lectures and articles we were told to read all said that this was not the correct decision, the basic reasoning behind this was: if we know that doing nothing will not improve the situation, then we have to at least try something. so even if affirmative action programs over time don't actually help, at least we'll know, but we won't know that unless we give it a shot ... i don't know what to think either (i ended up with a D in that subject, so even at the time i didn't know what to think ) but you can find plenty of info on the case by typing in "allan bakke" into your favourite search engine if you're interested.
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Post by dianaholberg on Feb 2, 2005 21:34:12 GMT -5
littlepea, what is the sponsorship of the school?
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Post by littlepea on Feb 3, 2005 8:51:59 GMT -5
eh?
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Post by Tara on Feb 3, 2005 14:31:05 GMT -5
in that case, allan bakke applied for some kind of special entrance exam to a university in california (i think) which was open for people with under-priveliged backgrounds. quite a few people sat the exam but the only ones that were accepted were black students (or something like that) and it turned out that the examiners had decided only to accept the black students who got the highest grades. Perhaps the ones that truly had the under-priviledged backgrounds were the African American students.
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Post by littlepea on Feb 3, 2005 17:16:34 GMT -5
the point is that he qualified as under-priveliged enough to sit the exam, the only reason he didn't get in was because he was white, even though the mark he got was higher than some of the black students that were accepted.
the exam was meant as a special entrance for getting under-priveliged black students onto the course, but they couldn't say that explicitly because it would be direct discrimination (which is almost always illegal), but what they actually did was pretty much an example of indirect discrimination (though not exactly) and that is easier to justify (and harder to spot).
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Post by Tara on Feb 3, 2005 17:58:33 GMT -5
Perhaps they had other factors that they didn't want to mention? Who knows? Anyway, maybe the test was used as an excuse to try something new. Maybe they really didn't care about who got what, they wanted to try to find some reason to get the other students in. Are there any other ways for the students to get in?
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