{"id":1417,"date":"2016-12-14T14:16:05","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T19:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=1417"},"modified":"2016-12-14T14:16:05","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T19:16:05","slug":"standing-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=1417","title":{"rendered":"Standing Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Katherine Vernier & Madelynne O’Callaghan
\n<\/strong>The Focus
\nMidland HS
\n1st Place
\nDivision 2, News Writing
\nDiversity Coverage
\n<\/p>\n

Junior Maya G. Peltier was sitting in her US history class when she was handed a piece of paper depicting the subject of that day\u2019s lesson: the Klu Klux Klan. She then heard girls around her jokingly say \u201csquad goals\u201d while laughing at the photograph that represented a wicked part of American history, in which African Americans were treated as second class citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to them, \u2018I take offense to that, I am black\u2019, and they said \u2018Oh, we were just joking,\u201d Peltier said. \u201cBut you don\u2019t joke about the KKK. They killed a lot of people. It was serious and it was awful.\u201d<\/p>\n

This lack of empathy is one of the many differences that Peltier has noticed since moving to Midland, a predominantly white community. This year, Peltier is an exchange student from Antigua, a primarily black environment.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Another difference I\u2019ve noticed is] the lack of black culture around me,\u201d Peltier said. \u201cIt feels like our culture isn\u2019t acknowledged. I feel underrepresented.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore Terak Attal has had similar experiences being a minority in Midland. Attal was born and raised in Midland, but his parents come from eastern Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is kind of weird, because you look around and see a lot of people that have a lighter skin tone than you,\u201d Attal said.<\/p>\n

Attal feels that recent news coverage of Islamic terrorist attacks is to blame for a lot of the prejudice against minorities, and could be the source for subconscious prejudice existing in some citizens of Midland.<\/p>\n

\u201cNowadays, whenever people hear things on the news, most commonly it has to do with people who have dark skin,\u201d Attal said. \u201cWhat is weird is the media, and how they make people with darker skin tone look scary because of what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Attal criticizes the media for their misrepresentation of minorities, he finds that Midland High tends to be a welcoming community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of exchange students who come here, and it helps me knowing I\u2019m not the only person who originally comes from somewhere else,\u201d Attal said. \u201cI have not experienced anything bad or uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior Rachel Cosey has had similar positive experiences. She feels that she\u2019s has never been treated differently because of her race, although she knows of others who have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [racism] happens,\u201d Cosey said. \u201cI\u2019ve just never experienced it. And I\u2019m glad about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Math teacher Johnny Chatman has had many negative experiences throughout his life due to his race. He feels that he has a different perspective of prejudice in Midland, due to his age and background of teaching in Saginaw.<\/p>\n

\u201cRacism is a hard thing for someone to define,\u201d Chatman said. \u201cIf someone was openly racist towards me, I can put my hands on that. But now we live in a day of political correctness, so people who harbor maliciousness towards me just because of the color of my skin, they know not to say or do certain things. But yet, that doesn\u2019t mean that prejudice isn\u2019t all around us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chatman also recognizes that he had to raise his sons differently after their family moved to Midland. He recalls the day his sixth-grade son came home, exclaiming to him the number of girls who wanted to hug him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to sit down and explain to my son, who was an African American boy in a predominately white environment, that I don\u2019t want you to allow girls to hug you,\u201d Chatman said. \u201cI just had to become conscious of what he was going to deal with as a young man. Right now, girls think you\u2019re cute. But the older you get, and the bigger you get, then you become a \u2018big, black man\u2019. I never know what the girl\u2019s mother or father is like, and if there\u2019s prejudice on their behalf. It\u2019s just a question of always being conscious.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Chapman\u2019s sons had a negative experience as early as his elementary school years. His son and another African American friend were playing outside when a student went in between them and said, \u201cNone of that, blackies. You can\u2019t be fighting.\u201d Chatman was distraught by the event, but after several weeks they received a letter from the boy, apologizing for his behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we hear these things and when we don\u2019t respond to them, our silence is really condoning it. In this case, we didn\u2019t become silent,\u201d Chatman said. \u201cI don\u2019t think, on the whole, anyone can make me feel comfortable when I\u2019m the only one in any environment. But Midland Public Schools made it clear to me there is no tolerance for racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attal agrees that it is impossible to make a minority feel completely comfortable in a mostly white environment, and also feels that prejudice is inevitable in American society today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you can minimize prejudice, but can\u2019t end it,\u201d Attal said. \u201cThere are always going to be those few people who just have hate in their hearts and use that to hurt somebody in a really bad way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peltier feels that the source of prejudice that exists in Midland is due to a lack of education and understanding, and while prejudice can never be completely eradicated, there are steps that can be taken to make minorities feel more comfortable at Midland High.<\/p>\n

\u201cMidland High needs to embrace black culture. Don\u2019t just teach a black history unit, teach it all the time, because black history is the history of this country,\u201d Peltier said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we can bring in more black people to the city to make minorities feel comfortable, we just have to make people more aware.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with a lack of understanding, there is also the issue of offensive things being said behind closed doors. Often times, in a predominantly white community, individuals believe that if something offensive is said, like a stereotype or racial slur, it isn\u2019t offensive if a minority isn\u2019t in their presence. Chatman feels that racism ends when people start to speak up against these silent acts of prejudice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes things better is when students speak up,\u201d Chatman said. \u201cSo when you articulate in a way that is not threatening to a person that is harboring racial attitudes, and you help them understand that their stereotypes of other people are inappropriate and help them understand that they need to grow beyond that, that\u2019s what make the environment better. That\u2019s what begins to help students feel comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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