Black White And Me

“YALL ARE WATS WRONG WITH AMERICA, MOST OF THE CRIME LIKE MURDERS COME FROM THE BLACKS, BUT YET THE U.S. STILL PROVIDES U WITH WELFARE CHECKS, HARD WORKING WHITES ARE HAVING TO SIT BACK WHILE U LAZY NIGGERS ARE TAKIN OVER THIS COUNTRY.”

These are the kind of messages I receive, words that were spoken to me, and assumptions bestowed upon me.

In high school this used to be an everyday thing. Wake up, get myself ready for school and then “prepare” for what was to come throughout the day. I was the only black male to graduate out of about 400 people at my high school alma mater. I played all of the sports that I could play, I joined organizations and clubs, and I was also a member of the homecoming court. I was not a trouble maker. I made good grades in school and everyone throughout the whole town knew my first and last name. This meant if I made ONE small mistake, EVERYONE would know about it and I would be criticized harshly.

I was watched and followed constantly whenever I left my home. It was as if everyone in the town was just searching for reasons to get rid of me for good. Racism is an issue that no one wishes to talk about and the subject is in a way ignored as if it does not exist anymore. Sorry to inform you but it does still exist if you did not know. The problem with the people in my town was there were no black people living there for them to actually get to know as a person. They only had to go on what their parents told/taught them, what their friends tell them, and what is shown on TV. For that I felt sorry for them.

My classmates did not know how to associate with me. They feared for their own safety to even be around me until my classmates realized that it is pointless and ignorant to judge a whole race and to have hate for people they don’t even know. It is told that you cannot change the mind of a closed minded person but they also say “one person can make a difference.” Though every day, I risked my life to even go to school at my alma mater. I survived and opened a lot closed minds along the way. The strange thing is, I would not have wanted to have spent my high school career at any other place. I am a much stronger person now for that experience.