Agenda Packet 9-12-18 Work Session

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29 Micro-aggressions • I live over by the mall and was walking with a mixed friend; an old man out watering his lawn starts watching us and followed us. I was in middle school then. Even if the person was in his 20s, it could happen; racism is passed down, no one is born like that. • The level of ignorance is so high. I got called black face, said I was wearing it as a Halloween costume. • Friends have taken screen shots of others (white kids) using the N-word on snapchat. • I do not understand why people use the N-word. It is poison and you cannot turn poison into kool aid. • I have been in places where I felt comfortable and then I realize that I am not comfortable – stares, whispering, you feel people move away from you. • We went up to my old basketball coach, the parent of my friend. He said, “congrats on me being Student of the Month, it beats jail.” You laugh it off, maybe that’s a saying or something, but why would you say that? • Lately I haven’t been hanging out with white people. It’s all black girls. We get looks; I feel like we look intimidating so people don’t try us. • Last week we were doing a training on the computer and this one group named themselves the Knee Grows. We asked them about the name and they acted like they were joking. Isolation and Need for Safe Space • Not a lot of black people here but we’re pretty close knit. • I moved from Portland to Eugene in ‘99. Had lived in a black neighborhood where communities take care of kids. No neighborhoods like that in Eugene. African Americans are spread out. To see a black person was like seeing Bigfoot; there were pockets at institutions, U of O. • Get involved in community stuff; that is where there are people who are allies. • Nowhere to walk outside of school – my house, the Y, the mall. Differences Within African American/Bi-Racial Community Needs of African American/Bi-Racial Community September 12, 2018, Work Session - Item 1