Does Your Community Have a Racism Problem?
Racist graffiti found at a school in Concord this week raises the issue of race relations in suburban cities and towns.
When a Concord-Carlisle student found racially charged graffiti in the school's library earlier this week, it set in motion a conversation on race relations as well as an investigation into who may be the culprit.
Concord-Carlisle is a school with a reported population of 80 percent white students; the predominantly white student-body has given rise to a conversation whether relatively homogenous populations are more susceptible to racial tensions.
Schools in the area range from 63 percent white at Marlborough High to 93 percent white at Hopkinton High, as reported by the Massachusetts Department of Education.
Do you think the graffiti in Concord is a one-time incident, as the principal has suggested, or a bigger problem in the schools and the primarily white suburbs across the area?
Do you see any evidence of racism in your community? How would you want the school to respond if graffiti like this was found in the schools your children attend? What do you think is the appropriate response for the student who is responsible and what would you do if that student was your child?
Mark Cain
5:14 pm on Sunday, March 17, 2013
No, our community has an illegal immigration problem and their reps are trying to make it look like one.....Oh the poor illegals boo hoo.
Just in....another one caught.
Milford man arrested on warrant, driving charges
MILFORD - A Milford man was arrested on Mechanic Street at 9:47 p.m. Friday, police said.
Luis Clavijo, 33, of 35 Pearl St. Apt. 2, was charged with unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle and a marked lanes violation. Clavijo was also arrested on a warrant, police said.
Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/police_and_fire/x930815850/Police-news-for-Sunday-March-17-2013#ixzz2NplbfrTs
Myd Nevins
6:00 pm on Sunday, March 17, 2013
Ok Mark. Exactly where does it mention his immigration status? I don't see it. Or are you just making that assumption based on a hispanic name?
Kira Gagarin
8:32 pm on Sunday, March 17, 2013
Mark, seems like you have a reading comprehension problem... Your comment here is like going to a school district meeting insisting to discuss the need to increase the police budget, useless. Unless you are trying to prove that racism is alive and well in your head, in which case I stand corrected. But I applaud your copy and pasting skills. Maybe re copy and paste over to that article, where the debate of your favorite topic is taking place?
As to racism in schools and communities. I think race will always be an issue as long as we have different people together. And that is a beautiful thing about this country and I think its important to always discuss these issues openly. High school is a good place to start (if not before) but I would disagree with the principle that its an isolated incident. It is hopefully a minority opinion but I don't think it is ever an isolated incident. It unfortunate that this sad minority spewing hate is always so freaking loud and in your face. And you can't reason with them because logic is not part of hate's rational. But it is a part of life and I am a firm believer of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger in that respect. Hopefully, the majority opinion will come out and it will be clear that it is not what was cowardly scrawled in that library.
Myd Nevins
9:09 pm on Sunday, March 17, 2013
In relating to the story, if you look at just the comments here at Patch over the last few years, it seems, to me at least, that the younger generation of posters seem the most tolerant of various differences between people while the old folks are more likely the ones with the racial bias.
GM
11:01 pm on Sunday, March 17, 2013
Myd Nevins, how are you figuring out people's ages based on what they post?
Myd Nevins
2:16 am on Monday, March 18, 2013
Depends on the person. Some are people like Dan, Monica, and Nikki who have mentioned they are high school students at the time of their posts. Others, like Harry and Kira, I have been lucky enough to have met in person. Still others I have had the misfortune of meeting in person like Joe and Jim. Some there are the profile pictures.
aycaramba
11:45 am on Monday, March 18, 2013
I agree with Myd: it looks like younger people are not going to tolerate the sort of racism and homophobia and misogyny and stereotyping--the general close-mindedness that "spices up" The Patch on a regular basis. And Myd's last response is also a model of calm logic. So refreshing.
carl berke
12:03 pm on Monday, March 18, 2013
The USA has been most racially biased where the original mix was most often a white minority or a close parity, as in the southern agricultural states. That measure has softened over the years. Back in the 70's my colleagues outside New England were perplexed by the anti busing racism. I pointed out that the racism came from very exclusively white areas with a poor to lower working class white population. That is where Milford stands today. Any reader of the comments here willl see a similar class based racism. This is, remember, a very very conservative and parochial town with almost no history of racial or even ethnic tolerance, appropos the Italians and Irish atending divided churches.
Deena Frio
12:03 pm on Thursday, March 28, 2013
This is an important issue, one which my husband (Daniel Frio) addresses through the voices of his students over the course of 36 years as an educator in urban, rural, and suburban (Wayland) school systems. "Classroom Voices on Education and Race: Students Speak From Inside the Belly of the Beast " an be purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or via the publisher Roman & Littlefield. Here's Amazon's link:
http://www.amazon.com/Classroom-Voices-Education-Race-Students/dp/1475801351