I was raised in Baltimore MD. Lived there until I was nine. I then moved (with my mother) to Los Angeles, CA. When I was twelve, I lived in Moscow, Russia because my father was stationed there while he worked as a cameraman for ABC News. The school I attended, Anglo American School, was home to over 80 different nationalities. I had the good fortune of being exposed to many different kinds of people and cultures. Our differences were celebrated. Growing up, I attended schools that were predominantly white. I have also been to schools where I was a minority. In L.A. I went to Thomas Starr King Jr. High for 8th and 9th grades. I will guess that white people made up approximately 10% of students. The majority of students were a mix of Hispanic (mostly Mexican), all of the Asian cultures - Japanese, Chinese, Korean and including many from the Philippines. Maybe 10-15% of the students were African-American. There was a young girl who scared me but I was also fascinated by her. She was a beautiful Mexican and she actually pulled a knife on me. She didnt use it, thankfully, and I kind of knew she was just showing me that she was the boss. I was afraid of her but I am not positive she would have stabbed anyone. The point is that I didnt write off all Mexican people because of her. She was being a bully and every school has a few bullies. Anyway - I bring this up because I talk about racism. I am not expert and I dont see myself as a leader on the subject - just someone with an open mind and someone who understands what its like to be a minority. The really funny thing is that when I was at King, I never once felt like a minority. I realized that there werent a lot of white people because I have the gift of sight...but it was not something that determined my behavior. I was just another kid who attended that school. I feel very fortunate to have experienced diversity. I am also fortunate because my parents have never ONCE said or done anything that is at all racist. They raised me to believe that every human being deserves equal treatment and that melanin has nothing to do with character. People have accused me of race-baiting and creating posts so that more people will pay attention to me. Well, why would anyone post anything on social media? To be ignored? No. I dont really care if someone likes me or not. What I do care about is keeping the dialogue going. THAT is extremely important - even when it makes people uncomfortable, and that is why I post about racism. I will continue to post about it and I only included my personal history to illustrate why it matters to me.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 21:25:29 +0000
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