Summary: Response To The Black Table Is Still There 14 Years Later
Zalman Babekov
English
September 7, 2014
Response to The 'Black Table' Is Still There 14 Years Later
Re- Written Version In my own words I would say Lawrence Otis Graham lived in a different time period then we do now. What he interpreted as racism in fact in my opinion is what we today would call peer pressure. In high school it is hard to find friends. There are o many people to chose from, so many backgrounds and nationalities. If you think about it a high school is just a melting pot of kids under one roof. With that being said it is normal for kids of that age to form friendships and groups known as cliques. Psychologically speaking a human chooses friends to make a companion ship with someone whom they are interested in and feel …show more content…
Coming from the same culture or background creates a lot of room for conversation due to common aspects of these young kids lives being in common. Similarly to my first day of high school when I felt like an outcast alone and isolated and a Jewish teenager came up to me and asked me if I was Russian. That kid today is my best friend. It just goes to show that kids wont make decisions on such a serious note such as racism. In my opinion the black kids didn’t isolate themselves from white kids because of race but probably because they found more in common with their black peers then with that of their white ones. In the case of Otis, he followed his heart and what felt comfortable to him the same way every other kid at that high school did. The difference is however that when Otis was in High school segregation was common and that thought created tension amongst the kids. Today however is a different …show more content…
White kids with white kids, Asians with Asians, pot smokers with pot smokers, gangsters with gangsters, this is what is normal at a high school. Back when Mr. Graham went to high school segregation was still a large influence on high schools. I just feel that the segregation of groups would happen regardless, even back when Graham went to high school the black table who criticized him for being a “Oreo” where sitting together because they shared the same interests and beliefs, no different then how they do
English
September 7, 2014
Response to The 'Black Table' Is Still There 14 Years Later
Re- Written Version In my own words I would say Lawrence Otis Graham lived in a different time period then we do now. What he interpreted as racism in fact in my opinion is what we today would call peer pressure. In high school it is hard to find friends. There are o many people to chose from, so many backgrounds and nationalities. If you think about it a high school is just a melting pot of kids under one roof. With that being said it is normal for kids of that age to form friendships and groups known as cliques. Psychologically speaking a human chooses friends to make a companion ship with someone whom they are interested in and feel …show more content…
Coming from the same culture or background creates a lot of room for conversation due to common aspects of these young kids lives being in common. Similarly to my first day of high school when I felt like an outcast alone and isolated and a Jewish teenager came up to me and asked me if I was Russian. That kid today is my best friend. It just goes to show that kids wont make decisions on such a serious note such as racism. In my opinion the black kids didn’t isolate themselves from white kids because of race but probably because they found more in common with their black peers then with that of their white ones. In the case of Otis, he followed his heart and what felt comfortable to him the same way every other kid at that high school did. The difference is however that when Otis was in High school segregation was common and that thought created tension amongst the kids. Today however is a different …show more content…
White kids with white kids, Asians with Asians, pot smokers with pot smokers, gangsters with gangsters, this is what is normal at a high school. Back when Mr. Graham went to high school segregation was still a large influence on high schools. I just feel that the segregation of groups would happen regardless, even back when Graham went to high school the black table who criticized him for being a “Oreo” where sitting together because they shared the same interests and beliefs, no different then how they do