Filed under: News, Politics, Race and Civil Rights
A group of white students, who some believe are from Stuyvesant High School in New York, have gotten the Internet up in arms.
Laying out admittedly solid freestyle skills over a smooth beat, the students continuously spew out the kind of racism that would make David Duke blush. To the surprise of some, Stuyvesant High School is considered one of the top high schools in the nation, but many are wondering what in the world they are teaching.
Apparently frustrated with their black classmates, the rappers use lyrics, like, "You so wack, b--, chilling in the projects. ....You black and you so f-- grimy. ... What'cha gonna do? Call your black squad n--?"
For over five minutes, the young artists continue to squeak out demeaning language toward people of color. The video is seemingly endless. The men also seem to be under the influence of either drugs or alcohol.
Stuyvestant High School is reflective of a disturbing degree of racial segregation that exists in New York City schools. Even though 70 percent of the student population in New York is black or Latino, only 2 percent of the students admitted to the school are African American, according to the New York Daily News.
For the seven specialized schools in the five bureaus of New York City, only 4 percent of the students admitted are black and only 6 percent are Latino. Therefore, it appears that the racism being shown by these students is a direct reflection of the very same discrimination being endorsed by school administrators.
When I was 12-years old, I briefly attended a school that was nearly 100 percent white. The school was a place where wealthy families sent their children - all of whom had more money than my parents.
The experience was excruciating; for, my classmates were never taught even the first things about racial sensitivity or how to deal with other cultures. What makes all this sad is that nearly 30 years later, almost nothing has changed.
As much as these young people should be punished for their behavior, we cannot deal with them without also addressing the administrators at Stuyvestant High school, who are seemingly determined to maintain systems that promote and endorse racial inequality.
What teenagers might be silly enough to rap about is many times a revelation of sentiments that their parents have expressed to them behind closed doors. I would imagine that these students are not being given a curriculum that embraces interracial respect and their behaviors are a reflection of the adults who've declined to teach them to respect those who are different.
Perhaps if their school would admit a few more black people, the kids might not feel so inclined to sound like members of the KKK.
Watch the unfortunate video here:
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. To follow Dr. Boyce on Facebook, please click here.
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