Though students, for the most pan, are no longer apparently inhibited
by other races, no longer blatantly biased, or rigidly unfair toward one
another, the races, as can be openly seen in the paradoxically called "integrated"
school, are voluntarily segregated.
There is still silent prejudice and racial scorn within several cliques
and groups, who often crack inane, sensationally narrow-minded jokes. Listen.
This seems to be a disease of everybody's crowd, regardless of the background
or the color.
Grady dictates a similar situation; though not explosive, it does exist.
Time after time classes are divided, white half on the right, black half
on the left, the arrangement is not assigned; this is a choice. Blacks and
Whites talk to each other, respect each other, but seem to reject one another
on a more personal level, an enormous self-created stigma, which is not
necessarily due to intolerance, but ignorance. For instance, a black student
might feel lost in a predominately white literature course that studies
only Shakespeare; a white student becomes an alien in a black history class,
writing essays on Marlin Luther King. Both Shakespeare and King are important;
everyone should study them.
People tend to detach themselves from what they do not understand, as well
as ridicule what they fear. Today there aren't as many derisive people,
but a cancerous complacent sort, and in the atmosphere is a kind of "don't
bother me with it" altitude, an attitude from which many suffer. Education,
very foward blunt, designed to deal with race relations might alleviate
the severe problem. To communicate, however, we must understand, and stop
kidding ourselves about one another. Tolerance is a good word; knowledge
is a better one.
A white person should not just tolerate black culture; he must understand it, for if he makes no effort to learn he has lost. The tolerance may remain, but most definitely the secret, ignorant prejudice is always there. It is silly to degrade something you know nothing about. The black person, too, must adapt and understand that to mainstream himself into the so called "white world" isn't bad, and should not be looked upon as such, but seen as a diligent effort to comprehend, rather than a submissive act or a relinquishment of identity.
We live in a world that must get along, but doesn't try hard enough. Imitating what we have seen or grown up with doesn't require too much intelligence, but to act logically and overcome the prejudice that has been programmed into our minds is the real feat. Unlearning is, perhaps, an impossibility; relearning seems a reasonable route. Instead of suppressing anger, find the emotion behind it. Reason. Is it rational anger or is it bigotry?
Racism is a complex issue. Most people are guilty of it. Whether verbally or violently abusive or silently intolerant, it shows in every degree.
It is up to the secure, sensible person to realize a real education is not entirely academic. The ultimate learning experience is of people, an enrichment of give and take. If anyone avoids the situation completely, he cannot regard his high school experience as education.