I found our discussion on race and all of our backgrounds very interesting. I am interested about other people's views on race and racism. I believe that we have the power to break the trend of racism in the South, and everywhere for that matter. As Gayle said, its time for whites to tell the people close to us that we love them but their racist views will not be tolerated. Is your family what you consider racists? Did your school favor one race over another? What are your views on how to stop this trend?

I say that the environment I grew up in is racist. There were not many black people in my high school, and although they weren't openly disrespected, of course those few students were just 'different.' Even if treatment isn't necessarily bad, it is still racism when people are regarded differently because of the color of their skin. And I guess in that case my family would be considered racist too. My parents and siblings are all very open minded, but the difference in thoughts and actions still exists between whites and blacks.

I think the environment i grew up in wasn't rascist but maybe the better term would be "uneducated about race." There was hardly no ethnicity within my schools or neighborhoods so people didn't get a chance to interact with other races. I agree w/ Lauren's thinking on it's time to tell friends about race. Lauren, i really enjoyed hearing your personal story in class about your grandfather and how you stood up to him.....the world needs more people like you!

My parents taught me to respect all people. I spent my early childhood growing up in Florida, where there is a very large Hispanic population. Many of my friends were Hispanic, and I never really thought anything of it. My kindergarten teacher, however, noticeably treated one of my Hispanic friends differently than she treated me or the other white children in the class. Elisabeth got in trouble much more often, many times for things that I would not have gotten in trouble for doing. Our next door neighbors in Florida were from Jamaica, and we were very close friends with them. My parents never really made a big deal about race.

Going along with the topic of race ...and what we discussed in class on Thursday, I was kind of schocked by what some of the people in our class said. Someone said how out their graduating class of 1300 students that there were only a very few that were black. I cant remember the exact number that he said...but I couldnt believe that. It interesting to think about the different groups of people that we all went to high school with. I feel like...for the most part, I had a pretty diverse group of students in my graduating class. I wonder if everyone else felt the same way as I did. I am sure that the minority groups, felt very different about how diverse the students were.

My parents are far from being racist and I couldnt imagine them making any kind of racist remarks. I thought it was pretty brave of some of the people from our class to talk about what their grandparents or parents believe or remarks they have made. Its not an easy subject to talk about nor is something that people want to admit to having heard or knowing a loved one who has said a racist remark. What's wonderful is that we all have our own individual beliefs and we can think for ourselves.

The school I went to was not a racist environment, there may have been some people that were but I was not aware of it. My school was not diverse, but the people that were of a different race, at least I felt were not treated differently because of it. This is of course my observation, which may be different from others' opinions of my high school.

My step mom is far from being racist, but my dad I feel is can be a little more closer to being racist in a way. What I mean is that he would not be happy about me dating a black man. Also when I was in school I remember when I was invited to go over to my friend's house for her birthday. (She was the only black girl in my grade in middle school.) I remember my dad making a comment that they were a "higher class" black family so they were more acceptable than if they had been a lower class black family. I feel like he has a negative view of certain black people depending on how they present themselves and what class they are in. There are times when I know that it can be said by others that there are black people that are "white" because of how they act and present themselves to others.

The environment that I grew up in was prejudiced. My grandparents used the "N" word quite often when I was growing up, but I never thought anything of it until I was much older. My mom claims that it's just a product of their generation, but their generation is not in control anymore. The school I graduated from was about 1300 students, with about 25 total minority students (including blacks, asians, hispanics). I have never really been exposed to a lot of racial diversity. But, growing up in Asheville I have been exposed to diversity greatly. As many of you may know, Asheville is known for its diverse population, and you can see it everyday just walking down the street.
I hope that I have not developed any prejudices against other races or groups of people. But I do sometime catch myself generalize a bad person with their racial group. I hope that is a habit I can one day break.

I would say that I grew up in an environment that was split 50/50. My mother was and still is the most accepting woman I have ever known but my father on the other hand was very judgmental and prejdiced. I think that since I spent most of my time with my mom and babysitter I grow up thinking that being different was ok. I also went to a elementary school that was about 75/25 blacks to whites. However, why I went to high school I was exposed to so much racism. There were students who fly there Rebel Flags on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and use the "N" word like it was part of there everyday vocabulary.

I actually had a different situation than others have posted. I grew up in Minnesota, I did not come from a racist environment at all. My parents are not racist, but they never really talked to me about racism. I think because of this, I never really saw people as different because of their skin color or physical features until we began learning history in school. I have always had friends of different nationalities. I asked my mom about it over break and she said she remembered when I was in second grade she asked me if I had made any new friends one day and I just said yes and said their names. When she met them later she saw one was African American and one was Asian. She was very surprised to see that I had never even mentioned to her at all that they "looked different".

I wouldn’t say I grew up in a particularly racist environment. I believe EVERYONE is racist, at least a little sometime in their lives, whether it be making racial comments or how you act and react to people of different races. So I don’t really believe in an environment void of racism; however, the environment I grew up in was a very subtle racist environment. There was much diversity within my high school and a pretty decent mixing of different kinds of students. As far as my high school went, I would say that racism probably only existed on a personal level or between few people; it wasn’t like the white majority was against any other race. My family was the same for the most part. I never believed my family to be racist because they emphasized the importance of acceptance of people different than ourselves. However, one comment my mawh made to me totally threw me for a loop. My sisters best friend, a white girl, is marrying a black guy and her parents don’t support their marriage and refuse to attend the wedding. I was disgusted at how they parents couldn’t offer support to their daughter, especially on such a big life decision. I jokingly mentioned to my mom what she would do if I married a black girl, expecting her to say of course she would support me. Instead, she told me not to marry any Asians or blacks or Indians and that I should try to marry an Irish catholic. What the crap?!?! Was she serious? Yes. I was speechless. I had no idea she had these kind of feelings. My brother and sister and I then yelled at her for the next 20 minutes on why she was being so close minded and ignorant. Probably not the best way to handle the situation but we were all just so shocked that she had these beliefs. So I guess that’s really the only experience with racism that I’ve experienced with my family.

Jim, I know your post probably wasn't directed at mine but it made me realize that my post may have been a bit conceded haha. I didn't mean to say that the environment I grew up in was not racist at all, I guess silently racist would be a better way to describe it. I'm sure that people had racist thoughts at times but we just didn't hear about it, our town probably had the same ratio of whites to blacks/asians/etc. that we do at this school, so I'm sure racism was around with that little diversity present. I also definitely agree with you that everyone is racist at times (I know I have been).