Growing Up Ignorant Essay Research Paper Throughout

punishment. I found out later that week that the principal was racist against

black people. I had no idea what to do, so I just left it go and told no one.

Both my parents and the school guidance counselor noticed that I was having some

problems. I refused to tell anyone what was a matter, and I told everyone just

to leave me alone. That was the first time that I ever felt ashamed about being

black. I felt like I was the most worthless thing in the world. I didn’t know

what to do. I was not only having problems in school, I was also having family

problems. I heard my parents say things about me that I thought I would never

hear in my life. Then I started thinking about who in my life really cared.

Memories Of my father and I going hunting, the good times my cousin Greg and I

had together, and the things that my two brothers, Ben and Dave, have done for

me. About a month later, I looked at everyone that pick on me. I noticed that

the kids, I went to school with at Richland, were totally ignorant about racism.

The kids at Richland were never taught what discrimination could do to someone,

mentally and physically. In the world today, their are a variety of stereotypes

put on all races. Ignorance is the origin of these stereotypes. Kids today

should be educated on what racial discrimination could do to someone. In Ronald

Takaki’s article A Different Mirror he says "’…white Americans will

become a minority group’"(p. 334). "By 2056, most Americans will trace

their descent to ‘Africa, Asia, the Hispanic world, the Pacific Islands,

Arabia-almost anywhere but white Europe.’ This dramatic change in our nation’s

ethnic composition is altering the way we think about ourselves"(p. 334).

People today are scared of what they don’t know ; they are scared of what might

happen to them and of change. "’ The deeper significance of America’s

becoming a majority nonwhite society is what it means to the national psyche, to

individuals’ sense of themselves and their nation – their idea of what it is to

be American’"(p. 334). "Certainly one crucial way is for our society’s

various ethnic groups to develop a greater understanding of each other"(p.

337). Majority of the people today do have some sort of discrimination. Some are

against homosexuals, African Americans, Jews, Asians, and other races that are

different from oneself. Just because someone looks different than someone else,

it doesn’t necessarily mean they are different. understand that other races are

actually very much alike.