2005_Human Rights Comm Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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The one act of discrimination that I'll never forget is when Megan (my cousin) moved to a new house. When she moved in she invited me over. When I got over to her house there was a group of kids playing a couple houses down. So, we went to go see if they wanted to play. When we asked the group of kids ifthey wanted to play they looked at Megan really weird and said they had to go home. But, I realized when we got inside they were still playing. Even when I was leaving Megan's house I noticed some of the kids were still outside. As they saw me getting ready to leave one girl came over and said hi to me. When I asked her why she didn't want to play before she said to me because they thought Megan was really weird. . Being new gives one enough exposure, and thick, dark red hair combined with a chubby, place face coated with freckles did not help matters for poor Harold. Adding to that, he wore glasses and a shy, puzzled, yet good-natures sort of smile.. . From the beginning, things didn't go right for Harold. Throughout his first day he made jokes that no one laughed at. Instead, they sniggered behind his back saying, "He thinks he's so funny. I mean, come on, who would laugh at his jokes? Maybe his old classmates." They sneered. "His classmates must have been stupid like him." He occasional person would say, "It's not his fault he's ugly and dumb. I feel bad for him." Which was worse? Being pitied because oflooking strange and trying to be funny? Or bullied for the same reason? Discrimination-Race or Nationality There is a student who sits diagonally from me who is from a different country, and speaks with an unusual accent than the kids sitting around him. I'll call him Fred, so as not to use . his real name. Fred, who tries hard to make friends and fit in, is teased ruthlessly by the student sitting behind him, I'll call this student Joe. Joe teases Fred because of his name, the name he wants to be called, how he talks, and any other way that Joe can think of bullying him. When Joe isn't taunting and teasing Fred, Joe turns around and teases a kid who's nationality is different than Fred's or Joe's. Often times at school, I have been hearing people talk behind other people's backs like what clothing one wears, how they talk, and how they act, mainly because of their race. People of different races have been called inappropriate names. A person who doesn't speak English well will often be called F.O.R which means Fresh Off the Boat. I have often heard people refer to African American people as 'ghetto'. People call me names at school because of my race.. . People call me a coconut and an Oreo. What they are saying is that I am brown on the outside, and act white. That really hurts, because they are saying that I am pretending to be someone that I'm not. But I don't try to be someone that I'm not. I am who I am, and I will always be this way. I used to know a girl by the name of Fatima. She was made fund of because she was from Afghanistan. A boy named Bobby called her "terrorist" because of where she came from. Fatima was a shy person who didn't have any friends to stick up for her, so she didn't have much confidence. .