Thursday, September 21, 2006

What it feels like to be the minority

my preschooler's school is roughly 85 percent black, and only about 7 percent white. 7 percent! In his class of about 15 students, there are only 2 white kids. 2! wow. talk about turning tables.

i mean, whats funny is there are more than seven percent white live in the neighborhood, so obviously, many of them are sending their kids out of the neighborhood.

all my life, i've been the minority in class. here, in portland, at the schools i went to, except high school, there were always more white than black. i didn't like it (still don't), but i was used to it.

I look at this dad who brings his little boy to the class, and whose son sits amongst so many black, latino and asian, and i wonder what's going through his head. is he one of those "cool" white people who seem to be "Down" with the flavor and embrace the black culture, and are not scared of black people?

Or, is he just on a waiting list, counting down the days until his son can transfer out? only time will tell.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about being the only Black in a class. I started middle school in the late 70’s. That is when they started busing us from NE to other neighborhoods for school. I had the misfortune of being one of seven Black children in the entire school during my 5th grade year. Imagine being surrounded by 35 children, plus a teacher, and never seeing another face like your own. Talk about frightening… Now I have to wonder if I’m going to send my youngest to a neighborhood school, bus her out to a ‘white” school or take the road lesser traveled – home school.