Evan's teacher said "Nigger"

W

hat would you do if your child came home and told you that?

I only ask because Evan's English class is studying "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. I just googled it and the word "Nigger" is said 48 times in the book.

Whatever.

The point is the teacher says "Nigger" or "N-Word". (I'm really not clear on which she says because Evan always says "N-Word" and I got tired of trying to understand that particular technicality of the story.) Then everyone in the class turns to look at Evan because he's the only black kid in the class.

Now, my personal opinion is that it's literature. If she's saying "N-word" when she means "Nigger" and every single person in the class school is reading (or has read) TKAM and the word nigger then WTF? It's stupid. Not to mention that this IS the south and "Nigger" is still used by some white people whether they are trying to offend or just referring to a black person and some black people use it as a term of endearment towards each other - a subject for another post when I'm PMSing or something...

Anyway, the point is that all these 15/16 year olds here have heard "Nigger" before. Or "Nigga", because they ALL listen to rap music. I hear it when they're blasting their radio in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Have I mentioned that I can't stand Political Correctness BULLSHIT? If you mean "Nigger", say it. See what happens. ;-p

Anyway, if the teacher is saying "Nigger" when discussing the book, it still doesn't bother me because she's talking about the book.

I asked Evan what he thought.

He basically said he didn't care if she said "N-word" or "Nigger" because she's talking about the book. He just wishes everyone would stop turning to look at him when she says it.

Evan - It's like they expect me to get up and start cussing the teacher out or something.
Me - Do you want me to go to the school & talk to the principal or the teacher about it? Or do you want to switch English classes?
Evan - No. I don't think I'd like the other teacher, and they're reading the same book and I'd still be the only black kid in there.

So...

If the only thing bothering him is everyone else's reaction to hearing "Nigger" or "N-word" then he'll just have to deal, right?

I was usually the only black kid in all of my classes until 7th grade when I started being bussed from my neighborhood to "the black neighborhood". I honestly never paid attention to it until I was 15 & moved here (to the south) and realized that racism was still alive and flourishing. I found this out when the first white boy I liked down here told me (basically) "I don't like you in that way, but my black best friend does." I thought "Oh, so it's not OK for me to like a white boy here?"

*sigh*

I don't know what I should do.

If anything.

Some shit you just have to learn to deal with.

If, on the other hand, it bothered Evan, I'd be there in a hot second to get the teacher fired for being racially insensitive or whatever the fuck. I might even get some money if I sued.

I could end up on Larry King!

OMG.

I should totally sue.

;-p

What do you think?

Just to be clear, I'm NOT asking if you think I should sue. I'm asking what, if anything, you would do were you in my situation.

It's 5:07 am and I'm awake. Again. YAY!!

T

his is an essay Evan wrote on his 2nd or 3rd day of High School. The teacher read it out loud.

Click the picture to see full size. I will provide a translation in case you have as much trouble reading his handwriting as I do. ☺

This summer had more "exciting" events than previous summers. Exciting meaning swimming. Not much to report, but I'll make it as exciting as possible.

I did not go anywhere. Absolutely no vacations. The farthest I went away from my home...is probably (40 miles away). If this were fiction, I'd probably end up in Japan, or possibly Amsterdam.

Thankfully, not much work. Simple chores every once in a while, but nothing big. By "nothing big" I meant 'nothing I get paid for doing'. Only simple things like washing dishes, taking out the trash, clean my room (which never got done, by the way), stop watching TV, get off the computer...sorry, I was writing my mom's commands.

Alright, the fun part. I went swimming for the first summer in a couple of years! Sometimes at (nearby River), and once at (Nearby public pool).

Obviously, I was being facetious when I wrote "exciting". Oh well... That is what I did this summer.

Isn't he "precious"?

Obviously, I am being facetious when I say "precious".

I'm irritated at him right now because I wanted to ask/tell him something before he went to his 'man cave' but he went upstairs anyway. Now I don't remember WTF it was that I wanted to say.

☺

*sigh*

BTW, this post was started on 8/25. It only took me 5 days to finish! Weeeeeeee.

More on that later. Hopefully today, LOL.

My 20 year HS Reunion

I

found another high school friend on Facebook.

She sent me this message:

Where r u @ now? We r trying to get everyones address for our big 20 year reunion. Happy to see u on facebook.

I sent her this message:

I'm still in the same town. I still won't be going to the reunion, LOL.

Yes. I'm antisocial. I thought you knew that? *rolling eyes*

Anyway, I don't understand reunions. I don't understand people who say that High School years were the best years of their life.

...

I still won't be going to the reunion, LOL.If that's true, you have a sad life. For serious.

When I was in HS, I got along with everybody. There were no cliques here. Had I stayed in Maryland, I think I would have hung with the Valley Girls. I still had friends who fit into each "group" though, so I don't know.

But anyway, the people with whom I went to HS were not my "friends". I didn't hang out with them after school or on the weekends. I wasn't in the band here (They required marching. FUCK THAT SHIT!) They only had football and basketball for sports here. (In other words, no girls softball, no tennis, no swimming like they had in MD). I'm not the cheering type. (I know you're shocked by that revelation, but pick your jaw up off the floor, please.)

If it weren't for the fact that I moved here in the middle of 9th grade, and was therefore a new attraction, I probably would have gone though high school unnoticed. I mean, I wrote for the school paper. I was in Math & Spanish Club & Future leaders of America & shit but so what?

Pttttttt.

I see a lot of my high school friends around town. (They are getting old, LOL. Not me though...).

I don't feel that I have anything in common with them.

Even if our children go to the same school. Even if their sons are on the football team with Evan. Even if they too are single moms with Multiple Sclerosis.

So what?

Not really interested in your life story...

I mean, if I haven't seen or heard from you in 20 years...what do we really have to talk about?

If we were true friends, we would have kept in touch.

People come into your life for a reason or a season, right? I knew you HS people because it was school or get the eff out of MD's house and support my damned self @ 16 years of age.

I'm not saying you weren't nice or funny or whatever. I'm just saying I had to be there. I would happily have stayed in my room listening to Prince & reading Stephen King books all the damned time if I could have gotten away with it.

20 years later, I'm happy to stay in my damned house watching TV & talking to my online friends than go and see a bunch of people from my former life who still want to call me Angy.

Thanks for the memories. See you online, LOL.

The people with whom I graduated are OLD!

I

just went to get myself some more cigars ($.90/pack vs $3.++/pack) and the dude at the register looked familiar.

Me - Are you John?
He - Yeah.
Me - I think we went to HS together.
He - Yeah. We did.
Me - Oh, okay.
He - I used to cheat off of you and Ginger in Biology
Me - I just saw Fineass and he told me & my son that I'd never let him cheat off of me. I must not have known you were cheating.
He - Oh you knew!
Me - Well, whatever.
He - It was like a team thing. We all sat at the same table. Me, you, Ginger & Someotherguy.
Me - OH YEAH!

Ginger had a crush on John. And Ginger was the first friend I made when I moved down here so I guess I didn't care if she cheated off of me and then the others cheated off of her, LOL.

I DO remember once in English class when the quiz that I filled out got passed around to the whole class because the teacher was absent. When she came back, she said "You all need to cheat better. How can everyone have gotten question #2 wrong? Not one of you had the right answer."

LMFAO!

Anyway, John looks like he's lead a hard life.

I know his ex wife. She is the very definition of a shrew. But black. She's Shanaynay.

He looks 50. Like Billy Cyrus but older. If he's my age, he's only 36. If he failed a few times, he shouldn't be more than 40.

I don't look that fucking old.

I feel sorry for white people.

:-)