Rants & Raves: Kirkwood's White Privilege Strikes Again

As funny as this picture is (like c'mon this costume it's perfect costume) white privilege is very much apparent, I will argue with anyone on this.

What sparked my...pissiness on this subject was an article that recently was circulated by STL American, on Kirkwood, the school district and the community, refusing to accept the fact that there is an noticeable disregard of racial situations and stereotypes against their minority students and community members.

Say what you want. You can say I'm just another black person "crying wolf" whatever floats your boat. But considering I'm an alumni of this school and the fact that I've been apart of this school district from kindergarten to 4th grade, and then from 7th grade until senior year, there's no crying wolf these ways.

The specific situation that was discussed in the article was a black face situation, where a student black faced himself and several African American students took the issue to the faculty as they were offended. Well...according to Mrs. Ricks, the "counselor", racism doesn't happen in Kirkwood and a black face situation couldn't have happened at the school. Oh and let's get one thing clear...she's not a real counselor, she's the person who stands in the hallway and gives you tardies. She's a grown ass, glorified hall monitor...bloop.

Anyway, as being a black student from this school, what I read utterly pissed me off. How, as a white member of this naive community can you tell a black person that racism doesn't happen in said community? How?! Are you an albino black person? No, so how in the entire fuck will you ever know if racism happens since it wouldn't ever happen to you?! Like that shit just bamboozled me so hard yall!

And unfortunately these students experienced what we all have in our prior years, that the faculty doesn't do shit. Whether it's because they feel they really don't have any power to do so, or whether they just don't want to face up to the reality of what actually happens in this community...but too often we're told it'll be looked into, it's not, and the situation is never heard of again...until it happens again.

I swear to God I don't understand how this has been tolerated in an educational setting...I just don't.

So, being the outspoken person that I have become, and I say become because I was not like this in high-school, I decided to email ALL 5 principals regarding how I felt as an alum and a person of the media. In this email I not only addressed my old principal AND the black principal of the school...here's what I had to say:

I honestly didn't expect an email, I never do when I send inquiries regarding media relating things, but ironically enough, I got one response back, from my old principal. While his response was much appreciated, I could tell he was trying to save face, and not step on any toes. I know my old principal, he's not racist at all. But the fact is, he works in an environment where he sees this happening everyday, and to avoid getting in trouble with his superiors and other members in the community, he wanted to be courteous to "both sides". My thing is...I didn't know there was two sides to a black faced situation....

And literally within 2 weeks of me emailing, another situation came about. A black pommie (dancer) at Kirkwood was criticized for kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance during a football game. Many said that she was disrespecting our country and should just leave if she didn't like being here, another person made the assumption that she shouldn't have anything to be oppressed about because she goes to Kirkwood....what in the entire fuck!