"Night Walker" Blog

I went to a private school for grades K-5 and I would have to say that I was very sheltered. Our small school consisted of Caucasian boys and girls. This meant that everyone was the same race and there weren’t any racial problems that most public schools had to deal with. It was a whole new world for me when I went to a public junior high. There were many different races that were in the mix now and it was something that I wasn’t used to. I was taught to not judge anyone and to treat someone the way I would want to be treated, so I was nice to everyone that I met the first day of junior high. I also wanted to make as many friends as I could, because I came from a small grade school.

In sixth grade all the students were split up into classes. The class that you were assigned to was the class that you would be with everyday. This made our class extremely close. I also became very close to an African American boy in my class. He was out going and funny we hit it off as soon as we met. We lived close to each other so it was also easy to hang out and we continued our friendship throughout high school also. He always made me laugh and I felt like I could tell him anything. I think we also became very protective of one another, because we didn’t want to see the other get hurt. I didn’t think that my friend would have to go through tough times just because he was black though. We are living in a new age and there shouldn’t be racial problems still going on. My friend was still being judged by the color of his skin. Even his family was criticized just because his mom was white and his dad was black.

In high school my friend had to listen to all the racial slurs that were thrown at him every day. The people that were making the racial slurs were the “hicks” of our school. They thought they ran the school and were very racist because of the way they were raised. Anytime my friend would be verbally attacked by these boys he would take the high road and not say a word back. I know that the hurtful words would get to him, but he never would stoop down to their level and say anything back. I always wanted to say something back to the guys, but he would tell me not to. It was so hard to hold my tongue and I had to do something about it. I went straight to the school office and reported the names of the boys. They were watched from there on out, but did not get in trouble. The remarks did not let up either. This made me sick to my stomach that people would really act this way because someone has a different skin color than them. School wasn’t the only place where my friend would be judged by the color of his skin. When we would go somewhere together we would get extra stares because I was white and he was black. If we would go shopping together my friend would be followed like he was going to steal something. It was just ridiculous that we couldn’t even shop without him getting dirty looks. My friend still chose to be the bigger person and to just ignore the looks.

I didn’t think that racism was still an issue when I was younger and I am still surprised to this day that it still goes on. This is an issue though that is very close to my heart because I saw a close friend go through the pain and suffering of racism. I really do admire his patience and kindness and the great person that he is. Since we went to college we don’t get to see each other very much, but we hang out when we can. I am very lucky to have a friend like him and to have such a good person in my life.