I don't believe I've been whining or complaining, JO, and I do intend to start taking online courses.
However, in doing all of that, the pain of being treated as a second-class citizen is still there.
THAT is what I've been trying to convey.
Syl
One Reason Why I Speak About Racism
by snowbird 113 Replies latest jw experiences
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wasblind
I know your not exaggerating, in N.C. when i was younger i had classmates who started school late
because they had to finish up with the tobacco this was in the 70's
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journey-on
However, in doing all of that, the pain of being treated as a second-class citizen is still there.
I'm truly sorry for your pain, Sylvia, but remember the old addage: "I cried when I had no shoes, till I met a man that had no feet." Your pain is miniscule compared to some in the world. Stop acting like a victim, and see yourself as a survivor that came out of that horrific period of history. You are starting to sour in it, and that doesn't smell like the snowbird I know and love. -
snowbird
It wasn't the cotton-picking, per se, that bothered me, WB.
It was the disparity and inequality in the school system that hurt so badly.
Syl
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snowbird
You are starting to sour in it, and that doesn't smell like the snowbird I know and love.
Point.
Syl
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cyberjesus
Raising our voices to stop racism discrimination is important. To complain about discrimination in the past is just a waste of time. I am mexican my ancestors were discriminated in the past but I live in the now. the only discrimination that affects me is the one taking place today.
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BurnTheShips
The funny thing is, it seems to me that blacks walked out of school with a better education back then, despite the underfunding.
Today, we are spending far more money, and we are turning out idiots...of all colors.
Snow. Please correct me if I am wrong.
BTS
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minimus
Syl, when you see some posters say you seem to always be talking about race, please understand that this your major theme here. (I say this for your health, my dear).
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journey-on
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not... nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not... unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not... the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
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Terry
In the first grade there was this little tough kid named Johnny Barrow. He made my life a living hell.
He'd lay in wait for me at school. Just before school started my bus would pull up and he'd be waiting for me as I got off.
He liked to push me down, jump on my back and ride me or just kick my shins. He'd be waiting at my locker to throw something stinky inside of it.
If I went to the Restroom he'd be waiting to push me into the urinal or throw a wet paper towel at my pants.
I went to the teacher again and again. She finally took me in to see the Principal. Mr. Gerry was a very calm, rational, reasonable person.
He called Johnny Barrow out of his class and sat us down together so that we could "work out our differences."
Barrow came in and acted shocked and surprised.
He blurted out all the things that I HAD DONE TO HIM. He simply lied.
Mr.Gerry and my teacher exchanged some private conversation. Apparently the teacher assured the Principal I was NOT a trouble maker. In fact, I was extremely shy and withdrawn.
Mr.Gerry asked me to step outside his office while he spoke with Johnny Barrow privately.
I sat on a hard bench totally miserable.
I had just made more trouble for myself for sure.
After what seemed like a millennium, the door to the Principal's office opened and Johnny Barrow walked out. He wouldn't look me in the eye.
For the first time! He WOULDN'T look me in the eye!
What did this mean?
Mr. Gerry smiled and invited me to sit down again across from him at his wide oak desk.
He relaxed in his chair and folded his arms behind his head with a an excruciatingly enigmatic smile across his face.
At last he spoke.
"Barrow won't bother you any more." As if those words made it so.
"What? Why? What did he say?"
"I got him to admit what he was doing. He finally told me why he was bullying you."
I just sat there stunned into a long silence; waiting to hear the awful truth of what Johnny Barrow had festering inside of him. What terrible crime was I guilty of which provoked this hellish torment day in and day out?
"What did he say?"
Mr.Gerry lowered his hands in front of him clasping them together and interlocking his fingers as though he were about to say Grace at dinner.
"You are tall. Taller than he is. That's all. He doesn't like it!"
The rest is a blur.
It made no sense at all to me. I never believed for a second anything Barrow would say so stupid as that.
But, the bullying immediately stopped.
He even started shrugging off a 'Hi" when he'd walk by me.
The nightmare ended.
I was tall!
He was short.
Hatred, anger, envy, malice and persecution.
If only I hadn't been SO TALL!!
Now that I'm much older I can reflect on those miserable days of my life and wonder what it all means. It left its scars as all unfairness and stupidity will do.
Some things hurt us so deeply we don't know why we hate or why we suffer. They are just naked facts beyond thinking or doing.
Ugly kids can hate nice looking ones.
Poor kids can hate Rich ones.
Fat kids can hate skinny ones.
Light skinned blacks can bully dark skinned ones.
White kids can snub Mexicans and Blacks.
Spanish kids can look down on Mexicans.
And short kids can hate and bully taller ones.
It all makes about the same kind of sense.
We are not defined by the evil others do to us. We are defined by what we make of ourselves ANYWAY.