Considering everything that’s going on with our school right now, I was forced to think of the documentary while reading parts one and two. While watching the documentary I found myself in periods of shock when hearing about some of the black student’s experiences. I also experienced this while reading.
The one story about her walking to her therapist’s office for the first time really struck me. I just couldn’t understand how a professional environment could make such a ridiculous, and racist mistake. The person on the house didn’t even think twice about what they were doing. Even though they eventually apologized for the mistake, it is clear they did not learn what they needed to and they are likely to do the same thing again. I also thought about how this person could live the rest of their life, never being bothered by this situation. But I cannot begin to imagine what repeated activity like this might do to a person of color.
This passage and the many others in the book made me so angry and confused. Living the privileged life I do, I am not forced to see these instances. Therefore, I have begun to believe that we as a society are improving in this department. I was sadly mistaken. I know I will learn a lot from this book as well as the documentary. I am disappointed in myself for believing that things were better than they are, and for not attempting to learn more about the reality of racism in our society today.
I agree with you Mairaed, I as well have watched almost all the episodes of the documentary and I was appalled at some of the stuff that was exposed by it. When thinking back to it though, it is very clear that their is a clear divide between students at our school, clearly shown by when one looks around in a high level class. The percentage of black student to white is not acceptable and hope some real change can be made from this documentary.
ReplyDeleteGood point Mairead, I agree with you. I had the same reaction to the therapist incident, and was very shocked. I do not think the documentary fairly depicts what are school is truly about, and often brings out the worst parts of it, which is unfair.
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