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Topics...
..::Racism::..
Well as you know there's some stuff going on w/ my brother and our fight against the school
board to accept an hate-crime policy. But read this artical that the journal wrote on the subject. They really
misconstrued their facts. So if you feel like writing a letter to the Editor telling them off I would really appreciate it!
www.jsonline
You can help fight racism too! Today there are many businesses
trying to sell products with racist themes without the customer knowing. For example the "redneck" craze has somehow
been tied to the confederate flag. If you are a southerner or a country fan (i am too) there are other things that
you can buy without that perticular banner behind it. You may be offending somebody without knowing it.
"I am absolutely a redneck. But being a redneck is a good thing. Of course, it probably depends
which side of the redneck you're on. But these are hardworking, live-and-let-live people who just wanna get the most out of
life. I dig 'em."
"There's a lot to being a redneck… It has to do with passionate pride in your country,
in your people -- even when they're bad. It's standing up for what's right and being the bigger man. But it's also about not
taking it when someone's out of line. It's sympathy for the downtrodden and the underdog, the beaten and the shut out. It's
about chivalry for those who deserve it. It's turning the other cheek, working hard and then when that line is crossed, standing
up for what you believe in.”
--Chris Cagle
All Americans have a stake in an effective response to violent bigotry. Hate crimes demand a priority response because
of their special emotional and psychological impact on the victim and the victim's community. The damage done by hate crimes
cannot be measured solely in terms of physical injury or dollars and cents. Hate crimes may effectively intimidate other members
of the victim's community, leaving them feeling isolated, vulnerable and unprotected by the law. By making members of minority
communities fearful, angry and suspicious of other groups -- and of the power structure that is supposed to protect them --
these incidents can damage the fabric of our society and fragment communities.
* Quoted from the Anti-Defamation League
http://www.adl.org/default.htm
This issue is as strong as it was 100 years ago. I am the sister to an inter-racial young man
who is going to be entering high school next year. The end of this school year was a hard one for him. He should
have been having a blast playing with his frinds, but instead that was all taken away from him on the way home from school.
Two boys were walking home behind my brother when they began shouting profanities at him and claiming that they would get
a restraining order against him so they couldn't have "niggers" within 50ft of them. My brother called behind him and
said, "You know I can hear you right?" they respnded with, "That's the point." They continued to push their way past
my brother to get ahead, and my brother let them pass. But one of the boys must have thought that his friend was being
threatend, because he tackled my brother to the ground and began punching him in the head. Thankfully a lady in a white
car passes by them and stopped the boys and told them to leave my brother alone. They did leave and my brother was left
all alone to call our mother and have her come and pick him up and take him to the emergency room. After may sets of
x-rays the doctor concluded that he had a serious fracture of his ankle that moved up his tibia (in the shape of an L ) that
also ran straight through his growth plate. Because of the hate in those boys' hearts, my brother's leg was broken.
He is already 6'5" and is supossed to be near 7' if his growth plate fuses together once he heals, one leg might be shorther
than the other one. We tried to take this matter to the school's principal, but they did nothing. They claimed
that it wasn't a school issue because it didn't happen on school property. But it is a federal law that the act
of walking home to or from school is a protected activity, so the school has to do something about it. But since this
happened a week before summer vacation, it's not possible for any punishments to take place. And my brother is going
to a private school next year, so he won't have to see these kids. But we did go to the police department to take some
legal action. But when they first took my brother's statement, they wrote it the wrong way, and made it sound like my
brother was the agressor. And because it never got fixed, those two boys aren't getting charged with anything.
The thing that has bothered me the most about this problem is that our family is getting attacked
because of it. I was outside one day moving some plants and when it started to rain i packed up my things and went inside.
My mom asked me if i would go out and get the mail. And on my way back I noticed a nice orange bike leaning against
our tree, right next to where i was working earlier. But since it wasn't there before I guessed that one of my brother's
friends had stopped by to visit. But this didn't even seem right to me beause his friends stopped coming around cause
they knew with his broken leg, that he couldn't play. And the other thing that bugged me about this bike is that it's
front wheel was missing, as if it was stolen off of a bike rack (we have had 3 bikes stolen from our household so this was
another red flag for me). This could have also been a retaliation from one of the two boys, because earlier in the week
the sherifs department had called asking where my brother was at such-and-such a time and date, because their house had been
vandalized and their first suspect was my brother (but it would have been impossible for him to hobble w/ his crutches and
cast 3 miles away while carrying toliet paper) So I went inside and told my mom, and she called the cops and they came to
pick it up. That was the nice cop that stopped by, and he was very sympathetic. The next day I want to finish
up cutting the lawn from two days before, so as I pushed the lawn mower out into the front yard I saw this big blue shopping
cart sticking out of our bushes. I killed the lawn mower, kicked off my shoes, and ran inside to tell my parents (they
had actually seen a boy walking down the street w/ that cart earlier). I was so angry I didn't know what to do, but
I ended up sobbing in the garage. The only other time I had cried was when my mom had told me about all of the stuff
that the school and police station were doing wrong. FOne of the police officers actually told my parents this, "We
have no hate crimes in (town), the DA will not prosecute hate crimes."
Our town is so screwed up. We have nearly 4,000 people living here 30min away from Millwaukee
(the most segregated city). So after many many years, we are finally starting to get integrated. And the people
that live here hate it. People who own buisnesses around here, even friends of our family are racist and predudice against
blacks. My mom was looking to rent an appartment for a disabled lady and the land lord told her, "We don't want any
niggers living here, ask any body." My mom was so stunned she didn't know what to say becasue this lady had not known that
my mom had an interacial child. My mom later found out that the reason that this lady hated blacks so much, was because
of a 3 year old black girl who was her neighbor. Three years old! And we are regulars to one of the local restaurants,
and the owner has made racist comments in front of my family, not realising that my brother is black...it can't be that hard
to figure out, everybody else in our family is white (no he wasn't adopted his dad is black and mother is white, they divorced
and she married my dad and I live with them). So later on when he had asked my brother how he had broken his leg, he
tried to ask so sympathetic and caring but he held back a little bit, and this time I noticed. And this man is a man
of god, me and my family have chatted with him on neumerous occastions about spiritual issues. But his predudice surprised
me. Now a days I have a grudge about going to his buisness, something that I'll probably never truely shake off.
I seriously would love to move but that just isn't in our plans. My mom always tells me "Honey we're gonna change this
town we, were supossed to carry this burden because we are strong enough to. We have to fight for everybody other black
person to come, otherwise this issue will never go away." I admire her faith, she is such a strong woman and has fought
for her son so well. And he, my brother, is so strong in return, her truely is her child. After dealing with this
racism throughout his whole middle school era, you would think that this boy never saw a dark day in his life. He is
so happy and outgoing that (even tought he's my younger brother) I look up to him. So many people would have crummbled
and "turned bad."
That is exactly what happened to two interacial people that used to go to school with me. Sadly
they both could not handle 4 years of constant verbal abuse from their peers. The one boy was concidered a druggie and
a bad-a** but he's really a gental giant. He told my mom that in middle school, he was tormented so much that he could
only survive if he fought back, and sadly enough gained a tainted reputation. The girl was a year ahead of me, and everybody
thought she dropped out her junior year because of her pregnancy. But that wasn't it. She tried to come back the
next year, but the name calling was too bad and no matter how many detentions the office gave out, it never stopped.
Because those people learned that you could destroy a person's self concience by calling them nigger, and they would only
get a detention. So she went to a neighboring town and finished out her schooling there. There is another boy in
my grade who droped out and is rumored to be in a vuvenial detention facility...I wonder why he's there was it because he
chose to be there, or maybe our town and school created and environment that he could never avoid. Sadly before this
happened with my brother I myself was blind to all of the racist comments around me. This one boy in my history class
told a new black joke everyday. Such as, "I'll be black(back)" and another boy would say,"I'll be white(right) here." And
I laughed, I thought he meant no harm in it. I had compared it to, as if they were telling a fat joke. Possibly
offensive, but since I am fat and I accept it and find no shame in it, I would laugh along with that joke. But
fat people were never lynched and enslaved. Black people were lynched and enslaved.
My town is not the only place in our country that has a racism problem.
Racism and hate crimes have risen 300% in the last 10 years. And the people who are doing this are between the ages
of 18 and 24 and of that group it's mostly 18 and younger. The up and coming generation is the problem. What have
these kids been taught, that makes them think that it's alright to treat people like dirt, just because their skin matches
the color.
You can help fight racism too! Today there are many businesses trying to sell products with racist themes without the
customer knowing. For example the "redneck" craze has somehow been tied to the confederate flag. If you are a
southerner or a country fan there are other things that you can buy without that perticular banner behind it.
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