By: Eminah Mohammad

Everyone knows racism is something that has been around longer than any of us have been alive, and we've always known it. Unfortunately, we just look the other way when we see it occurring. Trying not to get involved especially when we are someone who has also been a victim of racism. Many people experience Racism in their everyday life, they don't have to be told, they can tell just by the way others look at them, and how they act towards them. Colored people get misjudged every day due to the color of their skin, and not for who they really are. Racism occurs everywhere, but it happens notably at Moorhead High School, and everyone notices it. After talking with everyone about their personal experiences, I noticed that at such a young age they have experienced so much racism; including my close friends and family.

Facing Racism can happen at any age, especially to others who are of color; doesn't matter how old they are, they are still treated horribly. One of the people I had interviewed said that the youngest that they remember was when they were the age of four. A memory that has been cemented into her mind; the memory that she'll probably never forget is getting called "a terrorist and she should go back to her country." Sometimes receiving racism doesn't have to be verbal, it can also be nasty looks from random strangers you've never seen or talked to before.

Equality can have multiple different definitions, but they all mean the same thing, "EVERYONE SHOULD BE TREATED THE SAME, NO MATTER THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN" which is relatively similar to what the person I interviewed had said, she stated, "I define it as showing that same energy to everyone, doesn't matter if your Black, Mexican, Middle Eastern, or White, being nice to everyone no matter who they are." After the interview, I asked her if everything at Moorhead High is based on race, class, and/or privilege, and she responded with "no, not everything, but the things that are you can notice it clearly."

When I asked the most knowledgeable response question, that everyone should have the same answer, the question pertaining to that 'Should we judge people based on the color of their skin?,' she replied with "No, we shouldn't judge." I asked a similar question about; If we should assume someone's racial identity? The response was almost immediate, which was a simple "Definitely not." Getting the same responses makes me question whether or not anything has changed dating all the way back to 200 years, and to put it simply, it hasn't, at all. Although, it has improved, and is slowly still improving as the years go by. At Moorhead High, discrimination is awfully noticeable and you are able to see it clearly happening. Not much of it happens but a few teachers do prefer other kids over the others.

Personal Experience has a lot of effect on a person; both of the people I interviewed had similar experiences, so to sum it up, they both were talking to the parents in their native tongue and random strangers were looking at them nastily like they were doing something wrong when all they were doing was talking, but on the other hand, we don't know if that person is actually doing that towards us or not. One of them said that if they were to talk in their language they would receive resentment but if someone of different races had done that then they would gain recognition for doing something incredible.

Discrimination should not be taken lightly, ever.