Is Racism a Problem at Glasgow?
October 30, 2020
Students at Glasgow have experienced racism like racial comments, names, and slurs. They’ve felt mistreated by their community. Many have stories to share. Here are just a few:
Laura Stoker experienced racism during P.E class in volleyball teams trying to find a group name. A guy in her group said to her, “…No look at your skin, you’re Hispanic. Go back to your country. Go back to Mexico.”
A female 8th-grade student said, “Mostly just people running away from me cause of the coronavirus and making Asian jokes like we eat dogs and things like that.”
A female student who experienced racism in a classroom said, “I was talking among the people at my table (because we had been allowed to talk) and one of the students (I don’t remember their name, and we weren’t friends) didn’t know my name, so they just called me ‘white girl’. I wouldn’t have seen it as racist except they were saying it deliberately as an insult. Now, I was one of 2 or 3 white people in that class, so I knew they weren’t referring to anyone else.” These are only a few stories of people who have experienced racism in Glasgow, there are many more.
When students were asked if they thought racism was a problem in Glasgow here were their answers:
Laura stoker said, “I think it’s better than most schools, but I still think that there’s a lot going on, especially when the teachers aren’t around with some students that can be rude to others.”
A 7th grade student said, “For me, I’ve only ever had other students be outright racist to me, so yes, it is a problem.”
A female 8th grader said, “I think it’s a problem among the students…but for the staff members I don’t think it’s a problem at all because I’ve never seen it and I don’t really think it happens. But for the students, I think that there’s some of them might be against other races right now, but for most of them, they’re ok…I think this pandemic has definitely made more students against Asians because of the media and things like that.”
Ruth Tewodros said, “No, it’s not a problem. I think it’s really going great, like racism is not a big thing. People of color and people with other nations, cultures, and genders are pretty safe in Glasgow…. I think they’re really improving on accepting everyone.”
A recent poll showed that 14.1% of students have experienced racism at Glasgow and 14.8% of students felt like a teacher, staff member, or student treated them differently because of their race. You might think numbers are small, but does it matter how small the number is? Estimated from the percentages about 267 students have experienced racism or felt like a teacher, staff member, or student treated them differently because of their race. Isn’t that surprising? What do you think? Do you think racism is a problem in Glasgow?
Saron Amdemeskel is in 8th and goes to Glasgow Middle School. She was born and grew up in Virginia. Her family is from Ethiopia and she has been there multiple times. She speaks Amharic and celebrates Ethiopian holidays. She likes to read and write and that is one of the reasons she decided to join Journalism Club. She plays the clarinet and is in Symphonic band. She also has a really big fear of spiders.
