The color of hate
Greensboro police report a disturbing trend among young people that can feed, and be fed by, the increasing incidence of youth gang involvement.
More and more friction and resentment are arising among African American and white youth toward Hispanics, they say.
"It's black and white against brown," said Detective Ernest Cuthbertson, who specializes in youth gangs for the police department.
In a new twist on old prejudices, black kids and white kids are making life miserable for Latinos, police say, especially in our schools.
What a sorry shame.
Superintendent Terry Grier says he is aware of the new challenges and cites senstivity training --- which he notes some people dismiss and deride as political correctness -- as one solution.
Whatever works, we need to do.
The last thing this community needs is new objects for our disaffection.
Comments (3)
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We have a slowly increasing Hispanic population at Southwest Guilford Middle School.
So far, I'm unaware of the conflicts you've described between black/white students and Hispanic students.
I do know that some blacks and whites wouldn't mind joining hands in brotherhood against Hispanics.
Ugly attitudes are out there, and they're not confined to feelings about illegal immigration.
The gang issues that started to become more visible at Southwest this past year seemed almost exclusively black-on-black, at least from what I could tell.
The few Hispanic students that I have taught have seemed to fit in pretty well.
For the most part, at least from what I've observed, students who belong to different racial groups have gotten along pretty well at Southwest.
At worst, it's usually the tradition of hanging out more with friends of the same race.
But as far as actual conflicts and fights go, I don't think very many of those cross racial lines.
I have known of a few white/black students to make fun of Asians or Hispanics before.
What's interesting is that those individuals usually don't perceive such behavior as being just as bad as the historically ugly treatment of African-Americans.
Posted on August 3, 2007 12:19 PM
Thanks for your insightful post, Hardy.
The irony of it all -- black youth discriminating against Hispanics -- is beyond painful.
Posted on August 3, 2007 12:36 PM
I read a hard-to-take-at-times book this summer for an ethics seminar, called "I Saw Satan Fall Like Lightning", by Rene Girard. He has quite a following for his theory, biblically-based, he calls "mimetic desire" and its concommitant need for creating "scapegoats". The gist is: Satan is not a separate physiacl person (only), he/it is the ugly greed and rapacious desire to possess that which others have; and to react to others' desires by wanting what we each have even more, spiraling into dangerous acts of violence oftentimes (of spirit and flesh). The scapegoat becomes a useful societal/cultural tool by which to redirect impending self-implosion. Blame is shifted to an innocent, vulnerable party (who is not seen as innocent at all, but as "possessed" him/herself by evil), who is then "murdered", "crucified" or, (his very loaded term) "lynched".
In many societies, according to Girard's anthropology, this same scapegoat is soon honored as divine, and the shared guilt of the society becomes transformed into myths of sacrifice and even resurrection (false, to his thinking).
Girard's contention is that Christianity is unique in its forthright naming of this evil round of events, and the reality of a scapegoat (Jesus) who actually was seen as innocent yet was killed, and then really did rise from the dead, refuting myth.
Applied to the growing gang and race-related violence we may be witnessing, it seems many more young men with names like "Jésus" may wind up as scapegoats. I doubt they will be glorified as gods, though, by their killers.
Posted on August 3, 2007 9:12 PM