11.01.2015 Views

The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

215<br />

<strong>The</strong>se youth feel that they are treated differently <strong>in</strong> school. In many situations, they can<br />

not always articulate exactly what the problem is but they can effectively cite situations<br />

where they have experienced differential treatment. One must keep <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d that these<br />

youth (as with the white youth) have usually, <strong>in</strong> some way or another, caused a problem<br />

with<strong>in</strong> the classroom or school and had experienced discipl<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> some form. Keep<strong>in</strong>g<br />

this <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d, quotes are provided that illustrate black youth feel<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> frustration. <strong>The</strong><br />

quotes are <strong>in</strong> response to the question, “Do you th<strong>in</strong>k you get treated different because<br />

you’re black”<br />

Yes. At my school I used to get <strong>in</strong>to a lot <strong>of</strong> trouble for fight<strong>in</strong>g. . . . one<br />

time this black boy slapped me. He came up <strong>in</strong> the hail when I was go<strong>in</strong>g<br />

for lunch and said, ‘you lied’ and I went <strong>in</strong> to tell the teachers and then<br />

they said okay we’ll do someth<strong>in</strong>g, but they never did and that’s how it<br />

always went. Once this kid kept push<strong>in</strong>g me on the ground gett<strong>in</strong>g my<br />

clothes dirty and I said (to the teachers) ‘I’m not go<strong>in</strong>g to do noth<strong>in</strong>’ to<br />

him but you better tell him to quit’ because I was already <strong>in</strong> trouble and<br />

didn’t want to do noth<strong>in</strong>g. ...they said, ‘well, clam down and we’ 11 talk to<br />

‘ but they never did. .. . when I did that to someone, they yelled and kicked<br />

me out <strong>of</strong> school. . . . the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal was prejudiced aga<strong>in</strong>st all black,<br />

Mexicans and stuff.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y treat me different from all the rest. Like, just because I’m black they<br />

don’t believe me. I’m not supposed to be tell<strong>in</strong>g the truth. I don’t lie about<br />

big th<strong>in</strong>gs and I get <strong>in</strong> trouble because I’m ly<strong>in</strong>g. Say, for <strong>in</strong>stance, if<br />

another student hit me or someth<strong>in</strong>g and I hit them back, I get <strong>in</strong> trouble. If<br />

I’m <strong>in</strong>to it with a white girl, it’s my fault. But it really don’t matter to me<br />

because there will always be tomorrow. I don’t let it bother me a lot.<br />

<strong>The</strong> follow<strong>in</strong>g quote is especially <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>The</strong> youth describes an experiment<br />

that he did at his school to see if people are prejudiced. <strong>The</strong> follow<strong>in</strong>g details the <strong>in</strong>cident<br />

We did this one th<strong>in</strong>g this year. Me and a bunch <strong>of</strong> friends had a black guy<br />

almost get <strong>in</strong> a fight with a white guy on purpose and have the black guy<br />

say he started it and see what k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> trouble he got <strong>in</strong>to. We had an<br />

argument and had a teacher come. We had a black guy say he started it

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!