NOR SHAFIQA ELIA

  

BLACK BOY HAS BEEN IGNORED

Siva is a 13-year-old Indian girl who lives in poverty in a suburb. Due to her family being too poor and always insulted by the villagers, her mother and father divorced because they faced financial problems, and her mother was ashamed of her husband, who was too lazy to work. After the incident, she and her mother had to move to a new place.

When they move to a new place, this means Siva also has to move to a new school, and she has to adapt herself to the new situation. At first, she was happy that the new school had students who were multi-racial. Unfortunately, Siva's class has no Indian students. This means that Siva is the only Indian student in her class. On the first day of class, Siva tried to introduce herself to her new friends, but no one listened. In fact, even her tablemates didn't want to sit with her. During the recess, Siva wanted to go to the canteen, but she didn't know how to get there. Then, she asked one of her classmates, but that friend pretended not to hear Siva's voice and ignored Siva. One day, when I was on my way to the toilet, I saw Siva at the corridor, and she looked like she wanted to jump off the building.

Before she jumped off the building, I ran towards her and tried to save her by holding her hand. As I ran towards her, I wondered if I had time to save her. Luckily, I managed to grab both of her hands before she jumped off the building. After that, I tried to persuade her not to jump off the building, but she was still determined to jump off the building as well, so much so that I had to pull her to get into her class.

When she entered her class with me, she was crying while holding my hand so that I wouldn't leave her alone. When she started to calm down, I started asking what the problem really was. Then she told me about all of her problems, including how her friends always ignored her, and she asked me to inform the class teacher because she was too embarrassed to tell the teacher. When I informed her teacher of the problem, the teacher immediately took action for her.

After that incident, all her classmates felt guilty towards her, and they all didn't ignore Siva anymore. Now they are friends, even though they are of different races, religions, and cultures.

CAUSE OF RACISM

Racism is a form of belief, attitude, and practice that discriminates against a group of people based on their racial characteristics. Basically, this belief assumes that humans can be divided into different races, and at the same time, it also assumes that a person's value and rank can be determined based on the race he represents. In Malay, the concept of racism is closely related to racism. Among the reasons for this racism are because of skin color, place of origin, and the influence of the environment.

Firstly, the skin tone of some people is one of the causes of this race. Now that society is more conscious, only those with a white complexion are looked up to. Black individuals, meanwhile, are not taken seriously. As if this black person isn't real. Black people are frequently mocked and despised. This is allegedly due to modern society's limited thinking. This problem usually occurs among school students and children.

Other than that, apart from skin color, where you live is also a factor in race when it comes to education. This means people who live outside the city will be looked down upon by society. They despise these people who live in the countryside because they think they are out of date. According to Dr. Kenyona Walker (2020), Indian communities, particularly those in rural areas, will always be despised and ignored by other communities in cities.

Finally, environmental influences are also the cause of this racism. Children who are used to a life of luxury or to being around influential itinerant people may not make friends with ordinary children or children who live in the countryside. The existence of teachings or doctrines in the family as well as in certain community groups is due to society's understanding that has always been stereotyped and prejudiced against a certain race or group and has been carried over to the present day. 

In conclusion, society despises those who are black and live in rural areas. These people are innocent, yet some people hate them even though they are innocent. For the sake of justice, particularly for children and teenagers, this situation needs to be rectified. Cultural pluralism is one of the approaches to resolving this racism. Pluralism refers to the attitude of respect between groups in society as well as the respect of the majority group towards the minority and vice versa.

 

References

 

Race And Education: How Race Affects Education. (2006, November 26). Annie E. Casey Foundation. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://www.aecf.org/resources/race-matters-how-race-affects-education-opportunities

 

 

Race in Education - Center on Education and Training for Employment. (n.d.). Center on Education and Training for Employment. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://cete.osu.edu/initiatives/racial-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-redi-initiative/race-in-education/

 

 

Race in education | Education. (2022, October 31). The Guardian. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/education/raceineducation

 

 

Rasisme. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasisme