Sunday, January 20, 2008
STUDENT VIEWS
From Liberty, East
Mary Mathews, Liberty High School: “I see racism as a disease, and I see what [King] started as a cure for the disease. Some people think there will never be a cure for racism and that it will be here forever, but he believed there was a cure.”
Patrick McWhorter, Liberty High School: “I believe each person has to start to end racism with himself. If each person takes care of himself, everything will fall into place. If I do me, then maybe someone will imitate me.”
Leeann Hartil, Liberty High School: “Our generation is more accepting. We want to learn about other cultures.”
Brianah Lewis, Liberty High School: “Racism is still around, but kind of pushed under the rug with people being less open about it. I have met racist people, and they don’t say it, but you can tell by the way they act.”
Matt Pontuti, eighth grade, Liberty: “People sometimes just don’t like [black] people, and they shouldn’t be that way. We are so diverse here in Liberty that it is just not a problem.”
Preston Williams, seventh grade, Liberty: “The more people who accept [other people] the more it will rub off on others and people will see no reason to look at [race] anymore.”
Gary Thornton, East High School: “I believe we still have a long way to go. Even how we treat each other in our own race is not with respect.”
Maurice Harris, East High School: “Sometimes people now take the things they [older black people] went through for granted, and don’t want it as bad as they did because we didn’t live through it. I can’t imagine living like that — like not being able to walk into McDonald’s. We are just so far from it.”
Brittney Taylor, East High School: “We have come a long way, but we still have to change things. We still somewhat live in a [racist] society. It just may not be evident to those who do it.”