This video evoked many thoughts. Firstly, I questioned the pragmatism of the teacher’s ferretting

everyday racism and discrimination in America. Everyday life is not segregated to the extreme she

portrayed. Each person has his own prejudice, yet it is drivel to say the milieu she created portrays the

day-to-day of every black person. There is little day-to-day racism so blatantly displayed as in the video. I

believe it spurious for the teacher to think that her writ represents the harshness that all blacks are

treated with daily. It reminded me of the video showing a woman being “catcalled” for several hours

while walking through a city. Surely not all women in America are being catcalled on their daily errand

running. Not all blacks are being treated unjustly by authority figures or by people in general.

Although I understand that this demonstration was to let the viewer in on how discrimination feels for

blacks, I had flashbacks of my 5th grade teacher who had similar strictures on basic instructions when

she spoke to my class. However, the good teachers I’ve had far outweighed the bad. Like racism in

general, the small incidents that may occur daily are greatly overshadowed by instances of warmth and

acceptance of others. The girl with short hair that the teacher juvenilely called a boy shared her own

stories of discrimination because of her appearance. People in general are discriminated against daily by

all races because of complexion, sex, race, wealth, clothing, etc. I felt that the video tried to describe

racism against blacks as the maximal discrimination occurring daily in America. This is a moot idea that

cannot be true.

There also seemed to be a disparagement of whites implied throughout the tone of the video. Placing all

of the white students in the center with all blacks on the outside and the teacher’s saying in the

beginning of the video (in my own words), “these white kids will learn what blacks go through” makes

whites seem an amoral people that are both the creators and bringers of all present-day racism. I would

say that most of the kids in the center would not act with discrimination against the blacks on the

outside, yet the video ascribed them all to being unaware of racism and seemingly made them racists

themselves. Certainly there was an incident of violence spurred by racism in the media at the time of the

video’s recording. I believe that the video made the group cognizant not of the presence of racism itself

but of an emotion that most of them did not feel before. The two girls that cried probably faced

discrimination in their youths when forming friends, resisting peer pressure, standing up to some cause

they believed in. However, the heedlessness of the teacher and the class’ laughing at the girls gave them

lassitude that I think only a minority of the blacks in America have experienced. Segregation is definitely

not that drastic in America and portraying whites as an anomie that practices this segregation is drivel.

Racism still exists in America and, regardless of how I feel about the methods used in the demonstration,

the message of the video is still relevant today. It is relevant to all races, from people like Dylan Roof

who believe only whites do not see through a “racial lens,” to blacks who attack whites when they play

“knockout.”

Some believe in an upcoming race war because of tensions with police violence against blacks along

with other acts seen as hate crimes. I believe that this generation has been inculcated more than any

other to accept people for who they are. Further generations will progress in accepting others more

fully. However, discrimination does happen on a daily basis and it is through an awareness of

discrimination that peace among the races can be had. I believe that the video had a positive message

for this reason.