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Editor's note: the following apperared as an editorial
in the Bayshore High School student-run newspaper, the Paw Print. It caused quite a commotion with
the administration; from then on, every issue was manually reviewed by an administrative
staff member prior to publication.
I must share with you a very disturbing trend I have observed. I am not the only one who has come to this conclusion, but as far as I know, I am the only one who is speaking out about it. The subject matter of what I'm about to discus is very, very sensitive, and I urge you to read with an open mind and not to jump to any conclusions. I'll first preface this with a recounting of two separate events which took place on Grad. night at Disney World. A small group of my friends and I were in line for the monorail which was to take us inside the park at the Magic Kingdom. The place was packed - there were seniors everywhere. As we waited in line, I noticed something bump my shoulder from behind, and I turned around to see what it was. A procession of about 10 individuals decided that they didn't want to wait in line, and so were calmly moving through it. Shortly after they had passed me (I said nothing to them as they passed, despite the fact that they were cutting in line), I felt the crowd of people in front of me surge back against me. I tried to see up ahead to determine what was going on. A small clearing formed in which two individuals were fighting. One of them I recognized as being in the group of line cutters. The other individual was getting the crap beaten out of him. The 250 lb+ line-cutter was ruthlessly beating the other person with a hand covered in rings. They went on for 20 seconds or so, all the time the crowd surging back against me. The whole thing nearly made me sick. As they fought, I wondered what had instigated this somewhat lopsided confrontation. I was reasonably sure it had something to do with the line cutters. I think the unfortunate individual had said something to the cutter, or perhaps not yielded to him as he passed. That did not seem to me to be grounds to beat someone; however, beat him he did, so badly that blood from the unfortunate individual's face spattered on my shirt from 10 feet away. As I rode the monorail I thought hard about the incident. Why were they cutting in line? Why had someone not said something before the unfortunate individual did? Why did no one come to the aid of the individual? The only thing that I noticed about the cutters, in an off-hand way, was that they were black, but I knew that that meant nothing, so I dismissed the incident as simply a rowdy bunch of friends who did the wrong thing. I would have probably forgotten about the whole thing if had not been for another incident which occurred the same night. This time my friends and I were waiting for Splash Mountain. We began to hear someone shouting "T-Bone!" at the top of their lungs. I looked behind me in time to see another procession of individuals, many more than the ones at the monorail, who also happened to be black, pushing their way through the line. The leader was apparently calling for 'T-Bone', who must have been ahead in line somewhere. It's pretty amazing that they could see 'T-Bone' from such a distance, because they continued cutting through the line for 5 or 6 minutes, until they finally stopped (It did not take me long to realize that T-Bone didn't actually exist). No one tried to stop them. Again I wondered why. I compared this incident with the previous one by the monorail, and realized that the only common factor was that the line cutters were black. But I knew that was only circumstantial. However, I could not help but see a correlation between these two events and others I had experienced. At our own Bayshore High School, I have observed a number of incidents that, until recently, I have passed off as mere circumstance. I now realize that there is a distinct common factor in all of these incidents. In another example, near the end of third lunch, certain staff members try to help clean up the lunchroom by encouraging everyone to take up their plates, just in case they might forget. On certain occasions, I have noticed a group of people, who happened to be white, getting up to leave with plates and trash on their table. One of the staff members usually catches them before they leave, and the individuals then clean up their table and take their trays up. On other occasions, however, I have observed a group of individuals, who happened to be black, leave their tables with trash all over them. I looked on, perplexed, as the staff members watched them walk right outside, and then the staff members began to clean up the tables themselves. Sometimes when I am waiting in line for lunch, some individuals, who happen to be black, rudely cut in front of me, usually with friends. I say nothing. However, when certain white individuals try to cut in line, most of the time they are stopped. I now realize that the only distinguishing factor in all these cases is color. But how could skin color possibly have anything to do with these separate incidents? Upon asking myself this question, I understood that I live in a society which fears black Americans. I have a vivid reminder of why this fear exists spattered on my Grad. night shirt. What other explanation could there be for the differing treatment received in the incidents I outlined? Now, certainly, I know the dangers of generalizations and stereotypes. I do not claim to know every black person in this country, nor do I claim that the actions of a few black Americans are representative of all black Americans. However, I do know what I saw myself, and that is that certain black Americans take advantage of this fear to get what they want. As sickening as this is, I am as much to blame for it as they for letting it happen. Every time I yield to someone in the lunch line, for example, I reassure them that they have a certain power over the rest of us: fear. Thinking back, I realize that the individual who was beaten at the monorail was either very brave or very stupid. I believe the former; he stood up for himself by not succumbing to the fear which had overwhelmed every other person in line that night, myself included. It takes a very strong person to stand up for one's beliefs in the face of such overwhelming adversity. I have observed many people who have fallen victim to this fear and have not stood up for themselves. If we, as a society, truly desire racial equity, then we must overcome this fear. |