At some point in life, most everyone has witnessed some form of race-based discrimination or harassment. But what about when the discrimination and harassment is happening WITHIN the same race?
Such is the case with a group of African-Americans in Williamsburg County, SC who fought back against race-based discrimination within their school district and won a lawsuit because of it.
The case involved 2 African-American female students, one of whom claimed she suffered emotional trauma because she was subjected to racial and sexual slurs from fellow African-American students at an elementary school in Salters, SC during September and November 2006, requiring her to receive home instruction for the rest of the school year. Despite complaints, school administrative staff and district officials allowed the abuse to “escalate to the point where [she] was physically threatened, assaulted and battered,” the suit alleged. It also claimed that a school official and a district official, collectively or individually “retaliated” against the student by causing the state Department of Social Services to launch an abuse-and-neglect investigation of the plaintiffs and their household.
“You have a culture where to act like you want to do well in school is considered acting white. And that is part of why we’re saying that it was racial, even though the students were all of the same race because they weren’t acting how the others thought they should be acting as members of that race,” said Lawrence Kobrovsky, a Charleston attorney affiliated with the case. And according to the testimony of the uncle of one of the students, in the public schools, fitting in meant not being what his family was: “churchy,” “upright” and wanting education. “You see, it’s a crime to act white, or it’s a crime to be white,” the uncle testified.
Despite being moderately low key, intra-racism among African-Americans is not uncommon. It often manifests itself in the form of light skin versus dark skin arguments, good hair versus bad hair debates, or in issues of wealth and social stature. But the South Carolina “Acting White” case is indeed a rare situation that could very well be on the rise.
HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED INTRA-RACISM?
As an Black-American female, I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family AND a coomunity where EDUCATION, being articulate, having dignity, a sense of pride and Self-respect have always been THE.NORM.I neither understand(???)_NOR accept this INTRA-RACIST madness that continues to fester in too many Black-American communities and among too many Black-American groups! Clearly, young Blacks who are about "Something" and want to be about "Something" are being targeted and Terrorized by Black thugs affected by what I call "SAMBO syndrome"_SMH. Quite frankly, I'm glad that the families fought back! It's about time somebody did. And i hope other families who find themselves dealing with this kind of utter BS will do the same.