Friday, 12 February 2010
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"I Would Never Be Friends With A Black Person"
One day, it was a Wednesday as I recall, I was sitting in chemistry class, filling out a lovely worksheet on gas laws. My table partners, Landry, Chris H, and Brandon seemed too occupied in some odd conversations about friendships to realize that the blank worksheets resting on their desks are due by the end of the period.
As soon as I found that the pressure equals to 4.91 atmospheres, at the glory of my founding, I listened in on the boys’ conversation. However, I listened in at the wrong part.
“I would never be friends with a black person,” Brandon proudly and cockily states.
My ears shot up, the pupils in my eyes dilated, and my teeth gritted. “You would never be friends with a black person?” I slowly repeated as if to make sure I heard correctly. Chris and Landry went silent and looked nervous.
Brandon went on, “Yeah, they’re just weird and I don’t like them.”
As these words came out of his little mouth, I weighed my two choices.
Choice A: Pull my fist back and punch his face with all of my force, causing his two front teeth to fly out. As he would be dazed by the pain, I would kick him in the balls… Wait, he doesn’t have any, which was proven by that comment he said. So scratch that, instead of kicking him in the balls, I will punch him in the stomach, causing him to scrunch in pain, turning into fetal position. To finish it up, I would drag his little body into the girl’s bathroom and leave him laying there, writhing in pain.
Choice B: Take a deep breath. Be cool. Finish your chemistry.
Choice B seemed the most practical, so I went with that. But instead of turning to my chemistry worksheet, I calmly said to that little boy, “My dad is black.”
Brandon nervously laughed and said, “Haha. Yeah, right.”
Chris turned to him and quietly said, “Yes he is.”
Brandon’s face turned the color of a grapefruit and his eyes shot down on the floor, avoiding any eye contact with me. Then, as if on cue, the bell rings and Brandon storms out of the classroom.
Now Brandon’s comment about not liking black people caught me aghast. I thought that racism in United States was something in the past, something that only senior citizens would participate in. Especially growing up in Washington State, nobody seemed to look at your skin color or make a comment about it.
Now, in China, a little white Texan boy crushed my utopian thought that racism was a thing of the past.
Hearing Brandon announce his dislike for black people, my next thought was, What did black people do to him?
Of course, Brandon is from Texas, maybe it’s just the whole Southern idea? After all, they did lose the Civil War. But Dustin is from Texas too. Chris is not from Texas but he is a Southern boy from Louisiana. Landry is from Georgia, which qualifies as the South. So many of my friends are Southerners but I have never heard them utter anything about disliking black people.
Or maybe Brandon is just a plain asshole?
I guess I’ll never know why Brandon, a sixteen-year old boy, doesn’t like black people. But I know that his comment hurt me, even though I am not black but my step-dad is, and I truly wish he hasn’t said that.
Do you think that these racist remarks come from the family?
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About the Author
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- From: radcookie2o12@xanga
- About Me: I'm an average American teenager living in a not-so-average country of China, trying to juggle school, friends, relationships, and drama. This is my life.
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Comments (506)
fuck black people, they dont know where white ends
so instead we got the bullshit nonstep
youth in violence
public schools and safe in new york city
theres beef everynight and its going on at
lunch time when the teachers supposed 2 be watchin
they can't control shit cause the cell phones now gettin hidden
under the table as they learn
text messaging is the fastest way
to get burned in the back stairwell
of the class
and kickin white boys asses
is only a way to learn about class division
cause math ain't doin shit,
cause we learn everything from google
the new generation of the kids
they are so crazy
they got sex on they young minds
and i do love baclk people
cuz they stiay with they black bitches and thats fine
cuz im into asians
and thats what matters to me you see
i am a fuckin racist
but im also a hip hop asian mc
I would say that he's just an ass. I lived in the South my entire life (well, until about 10 months ago), and I would have never said (or thought) something like that. Some people are raised to have that mentality, but to me, he just sounds like a world-class jerk.
I definitely think that racism comes from family. Kids say what they hear after all. ALthough in your classmates case, he wasn't a kid, just an a**hole.
He is an ass and he was probably raised that way. Not everyone from the South acts that way, but some do. My son is going to have to put up with similar situations b/c he has very fair skin. Some of my husband's friends who know that I am black ask him why our baby is white. People are just ignorant sometimes. They think that all people who are mixed with black look like me (even though I am not mixed) or Halle Berry and not like you or my son.
@ginseng@xanga - Letting off steam huh!! LOL who cares what u think! yeah I'm sorry you had to hear that type of talk. I've talked until i see it is USELESS.And i notice like my blogs on race people are curios but would rather not answer you. As a young person on this earth maybe you will see better days ahead!!
@blendrax08@xanga - DAMN U!!! IM ADDING U TO MY FRIENDS LIST YOU FUCKIN BASTARD
@ginseng@xanga - KISSES KISSES I"M A I GIRLWELCOME YOU!!LOL
honestly, yes I do. Even if it was a statement heard by a child and never heard again, I do believe it had some impact on the choice words.
I'm Black and I'm also from the south and there were some ignorant people but that was greatly outnumbered by a mix of friends that were "non-Black" who loved and respected me, and the feeling was mutual. So it's not necessarily a "southern thing." Ignorance is everywhere on this planet (ie the 1st comment from the random and irrelevant Asian guy.). It's tough to let things like that go but I guarantee that Brandon felt like an idiot when you told him your dad was Black, so you definitely "won' that one. He probably got that from home or from a bad experience.
For the record I think it takes a weak minded individual to spew hate without any basis but what they see on tv, or a single negative experience, or because they think it's cool and want shock value.
You would think those views were left in the 60's but as long as this earth is spinning there will be a sad and pathetic racist individuals. When you hear ignorance like that come out of someone's mouth try not to let it get to you because it's apparent that your intellence is far superior to theirs.
@blendrax08@xanga - OH SHIT!! YOU SAID GIRL! THATS MY FAVOIRTE NAME TO CALL!!
@ginseng@xanga - I hope that being a rapper isn't a serious future career goal because you are wack. And it's not because I think you're ignorant. You really are bad at this.
Things like this start at home. Not ALL people from the south are assbackwards rednecks like the media makes them out to be. I wonder if Brandon ever really had friends of color to say shit like this. I have no problem being vocal & putting people in their place when they say baseless remarks about races or religions.
Prejudice is made, not born. period.
I don't know. From what I've seen, rascism really seems to be more of a personal choice. The only people I've ever known to be racist, had very understanding parents, who I'm almost certain weren't racist. And then there is me, and my family is incredibly racist and yet, I'm not. (Or at least I try very hard not to be, but I suppose it's far from me to judge myself on my conduct in such things.) I don't know. I don't know a whole lot of racist people, really, and I live in the South. I don't think the more people are racist here than anywhere else, really. Sure there are some, far more than there should be, but it's not like just because someone is rasied in the south they hate black people, or anything like that. I think it's just something people choose to be. Like people who hate fat people rarely hate fat people, because they were raised in a certain place, or because there area lost a war or anything... they just do it because they have some false, preconcieved notion of what fat people are, some kind of mold that they think all fat people fit into. I feel it's the same with racism, or sexism, or any kind of discrimiation. It's just ignorance.
I am from Texas. I lived there for 21 years. I am not racists...nor do I know anyone of my generation who is truly racist. A few of my male friends made immature racist jokes...about all races in High School...away from school in the privacy of our mixed race group of friends. I know older generations, a few of my family too...who are racists despite not being raised to be one. Both of my aunts and my uncle are racist, my mom is not...neither were either of my grandparents.
He was just an ass.
@MsSouthernHospitality@xanga -
Best comment ever!I think it's true what you said about people saying things to be cool or want shock value. I've been around people who did that & when they saw the "WTF are you serious?!" looks on our faces (or saw people get out of their seat. XD), they would quickly say it was a bad joke & apologize. Jokes are meant to be funny, anyone with common sense can tell when something is a good laugh or just plain malicious, you know?
At the end of the day Brandon is missing out!
So I feel sorry for the loser.
@Shinbi_Belldandy@xanga - Exactly! You wouldn't believe some of the crazy things I've heard people say for shock value, then realize that they took it too far and crossed that line from being funny to just being rude/hurtful/mean. Like you said "Jokes are meant to be funny, anyone with common sense can tell when something is a good laugh or just plain malicious.."
I think it can come from family, but it doesn't have to. What I mean is I know that some people learn from their family, but others rebel against it. I did. Most of my family is very prejudice, and not just against any one black, against other races of people also. As a young child, I argued with my grandfather about it. I did not grow up in the south but it was still a time (60s and 70s) when there was still a lot of separation of races and not because of laws but because people did it to themselves. I was teased and hit and had my hair pulled by black people who rode my bus, but I also knew other people who didn't treat me that way. Common sense tells me, there are good and bad in every race of people. You can't paint everyone of one race with the same brush. If I learned it as a child living in the neighborhood I lived in and in the family I lived in, other people should be able to figure it out. We are all children of God. He created us all. He had a purpose for making different people with different looks, heights, colors etc. How boring would it be if we were all the same?
Anyway, my answer is it can come from family, but it doesn't have to.
. . . you thought that racism in the US was something in the past? now THAT caught me off guard .
Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion..but you are a serious dumb fu** for still being racist today..it was excused back then but nowadays you have to be an effin idiot for still believing that way.
I mean do they understand how disgusting and uneducated they sound when they say shit like that?
@RainDropPixie@xanga - Exactly. :)
I just wanted to say, I have lived in South
Carolina my WHOLE life, and i've never thought this. Nor does anyone
else i know. AND i know A LOT of people. So I dont think its a fair
statement to say that the reason could be he is southern. And I am very
sorry he said that, and you had to hear it. Its ignorance.
I think this person is not necessarily the nicest person, but I think "racist" is overdoing it. I thought a racist was someone who believes that another race is inherently inferior. Your thoughts that this has something to do with where he is from is just about as stupid and bigoted as his comment, by the way.
I do think it has a lot to do with family...and potentially classmates. I've been on the other side of that fence; a white woman in mostly black neighborhood (perhaps it was naive, but my ex-husband and I looked at the HOUSE we were buying, not the COLOR of our potential neighbors) and had a little boy (maybe six years old) ride his bike by our house and yell, "I GOT MY EYE ON YOU, WHITEY!!" He didn't come up with it all on his own and there are limited sources for it... The parents are one, but sometimes it does have a lot to do with their classmates, too. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff that falls out of the boys' mouths and when questioned on WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT?! They answer, "So-and-so at school..."
My grandparents grew up and lived in the North for most of their lives. At the risk of speaking ill of the departed, my grandfather was a racist. (Not, like, KKK, but I wouldn't have inflicted him on some of the men I've dated without a stern warning before hand...oh, who am I kidding? I don't inflict any of my family on anyone without a stern warning first! "I was hatched from an egg...these people were kind enough to take me in...they're all batshit, but they did me a solid, so...uhm...okay...the safety word is "onion sauce"...when you've had enough, just say something like, 'Hey April, do you remember those awesome sandwiches we had last night? Was that onion sauce on those?' And I'll feign a stomach ache and we'll blow this popsicle stand, cool?" ... Digression, wha?? Sorry.) But I think it has less to do with region and more to do with the old attitudes of society and maybe some to do with, daftly, letting one bad experience with any one race reflectly poorly an entire group of people.
@ginseng@xanga - FUCK YOU.