The Plaza was full of chatty, pre-pubescent teenagers who were either eating their lunch, or just talking. Li Xien was sitting with her friends, nibbling away at her wrap while laughing at her friends jokes. Everyone liked her, but she never really had a close best friend, she was always on the outskirts of her friendship groups. But she didn’t mind.
She sat there listening while her friends talked about some recent test. “It was so difficult!” exclaimed Amelia - the only person who was part of this friend group who Li Xien didn’t know the last name to. “I know right?! I didn’t get any challenge, and I am pretty sure just from overhearing Akhil that I got question 12 and 13 wrong.” sighed Jennifer. “Hey, what did you get Li Xien? You got your test back right?” asked James. “Yeah! I um got a...um ...a 4”. She mumbled. “What?! Your Asian, how did you get a 4?” gasped James sarcastically. Li Xien nervously laughed, trying to get off the topic. “Hey look! When you laugh you can’t see you eyes! Its like you close them! Can you still see?” Laughed Amelia. “Yeah, I can still see...Thats a little bit racist you know...” uttered Li Xien. “Oh calm down! She is just joking! God, it’s not like we are having a world wide controversial issue here!” giggled Jennifer. “God, Li Xien - to stunned by the fact that her so called “friends” didn’t realise how racist they were being.
You may think that we are in the ‘golden age’ and that segregation is over, but racism is still a big part of modern day society. “‘Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in fighting to end racism.’
This advances the idea that racism is a relic of the past. It isn’t. And over the last few days, there have been several stories that reaffirm the extent to which racial bias—and anti-black racism in particular—are real things that happen to real people.” - The daily beast.The daily beast (who is commenting on the twitter user “@FeministaJones” tweet) is absolutely right. Although there is not specific seatings for darker skin coloured human beings on busses, and isn’t different water fountains for them, doesn’t mean that racism and segregation is a ‘relic of the past’. In Fact, there has been recent incidents such as the Michael Brown shooting and only a few weeks ago during the AFL (Australian Football League) grand finals, snide remarks such as “Black dog” was directed to a specific -darker skin coloured- man named Adam Goodes.
You may wonder if other people have experienced this. They have.
Over 80% of people who were asked if they have personally experienced racism (even if it was supposed to be a joke) said yes. Some people have even experienced backhanded compliments! “For an indian girl, you are pretty!” is one of the comments that Akanksha, a grade 8 student from UWCSEA has experienced. “You’re Asian, why aren’t you smart?!” is another common remark that is stated.
“Its not over, its just not. I think that people pretend its over so that they don’t have to deal with the pressure of having to fix the issue.” Explains Lizzie, a girl who has also personally experienced racism, and racist comments.
In the end, people need to realise that not all acts of racism are big, controversial issues. So many people can fall victim to it from their peers/friends, who probably think they are only having a laugh. People need to stop and think about their actions before they do them, or in this case, say them. People need to know that racism isn’t just a bad memory from the past, it is here, it is now. What are you going to do about that?
She sat there listening while her friends talked about some recent test. “It was so difficult!” exclaimed Amelia - the only person who was part of this friend group who Li Xien didn’t know the last name to. “I know right?! I didn’t get any challenge, and I am pretty sure just from overhearing Akhil that I got question 12 and 13 wrong.” sighed Jennifer. “Hey, what did you get Li Xien? You got your test back right?” asked James. “Yeah! I um got a...um ...a 4”. She mumbled. “What?! Your Asian, how did you get a 4?” gasped James sarcastically. Li Xien nervously laughed, trying to get off the topic. “Hey look! When you laugh you can’t see you eyes! Its like you close them! Can you still see?” Laughed Amelia. “Yeah, I can still see...Thats a little bit racist you know...” uttered Li Xien. “Oh calm down! She is just joking! God, it’s not like we are having a world wide controversial issue here!” giggled Jennifer. “God, Li Xien - to stunned by the fact that her so called “friends” didn’t realise how racist they were being.
You may think that we are in the ‘golden age’ and that segregation is over, but racism is still a big part of modern day society. “‘Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in fighting to end racism.’
This advances the idea that racism is a relic of the past. It isn’t. And over the last few days, there have been several stories that reaffirm the extent to which racial bias—and anti-black racism in particular—are real things that happen to real people.” - The daily beast.The daily beast (who is commenting on the twitter user “@FeministaJones” tweet) is absolutely right. Although there is not specific seatings for darker skin coloured human beings on busses, and isn’t different water fountains for them, doesn’t mean that racism and segregation is a ‘relic of the past’. In Fact, there has been recent incidents such as the Michael Brown shooting and only a few weeks ago during the AFL (Australian Football League) grand finals, snide remarks such as “Black dog” was directed to a specific -darker skin coloured- man named Adam Goodes.
You may wonder if other people have experienced this. They have.
Over 80% of people who were asked if they have personally experienced racism (even if it was supposed to be a joke) said yes. Some people have even experienced backhanded compliments! “For an indian girl, you are pretty!” is one of the comments that Akanksha, a grade 8 student from UWCSEA has experienced. “You’re Asian, why aren’t you smart?!” is another common remark that is stated.
“Its not over, its just not. I think that people pretend its over so that they don’t have to deal with the pressure of having to fix the issue.” Explains Lizzie, a girl who has also personally experienced racism, and racist comments.
In the end, people need to realise that not all acts of racism are big, controversial issues. So many people can fall victim to it from their peers/friends, who probably think they are only having a laugh. People need to stop and think about their actions before they do them, or in this case, say them. People need to know that racism isn’t just a bad memory from the past, it is here, it is now. What are you going to do about that?
Written by: Patrick
I really liked the way you started your piece with describing a scene. It captivated me and made me want to read more. One thing that you could have done is trim down your lead so that you only focus on the main parts of the story that would help you support your topic...I like how you noticed this as a social issue and wrote a story about it, some of the facts and quotes that you stated really amazed me. Especially this one: "Over 80% of people who were asked if they have personally experienced racism (even if it was supposed to be a joke) said yes. ". Another thing you could have added could be the "next steps" to try to avoid being racist or hurting other's feelings...Other than that, I really enjoyed what you have written. Good job!
ReplyDeleteDear Patrick,
ReplyDeleteI personally think that your article was really interesting. I totally agree by the fact that maybe people do such stuff as a joke, but the person doesn't take it as a joke. A lot of people have done racism one time, and they don't know how the other person think or feel because you are taking it as a joke, but it is really racism. You may think that you are laughing with them, but the other girl or boy may think that you are laughing at them. This is a really good article and I hope that more people take the time to read it.
Best wishes,
Fernanda Montes from ASFG Guadalajara, Mexico
Hello Patrick,
ReplyDeleteYou may think that we are in the ‘golden age’ and that segregation is over, but racism is still a big part of modern day society. I totally agree with this sentence many of teenagers like us think we are in the 'golden age' and we think we can say racist jokes to each other without being racist but I think there is still racism in this world even in adults. For example, like the example you use of Michael Brown. Also I think that we are not born racist but we are raised racist. For example, our parents raised us telling us that blue is for boys and pink is for girls. We also think that all of the asians are supposed to be smart because they invented a lot of things and they study all the time, but not all of them are smart they are humans and they are not perfect.
Regards,
Alvaro,ASFg,8th gr.