A Student's Perspective: Don't Dismiss Racism

As a 17 year old high school student, I see racism on an everyday basis. I have been called racist names by passerby, and have been discredited and shrugged off by some peers as a result of my Hispanic ethnicity. But this is not a . This is a human problem, and I don't believe that the entire Santee community is to blame.

I, like every other citizen in Santee, am aware of the countless derogatory nicknames that have been given to our community; "Klantee", "Klantana", "White Hills", to name a few. But in reality, these names can be applied to every other city in the nation. Racism, after all, is a world wide epidemic.

Still, it often surprises me that such a often turns a blind eye towards racial issues. Many adults dismiss the fact that violent attitudes towards other ethnicities exist here, and that is just plain ignorance. Racism exists everywhere, and the first step to defeating it is to recognize that it's present in every corner of the globe; even here in Santee.

When racial issues do arise in the city, I doubt that the community will be able to handle it well because of it's dismissive attitude. That's why I encourage you to educate yourselves as much as possible. Talk with your children about their perspective of racism in Santee and try to understand how it affects them, or how it affects their perception of the city. The answers might surprise you.