美国国家公共电台 NPR How Racism Has Manifested Itself In Schools As Recalled By Listeners（在线收听）

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The recent stories about high-profile politicians in Virginia having worn blackface have caused many people to remember their own experiences, times that people around them blithely invoke racist caricatures and have made them feel unwelcome or unsafe. We asked you to share your stories about racism at school, either recently or in the past. And here's some of what people told us.

CORYNNE JONES: Hello. My name is Corynne Jones (ph). The story that I wanted to share was I went to Clemson University. My senior year, 2007 - it was either on Martin Luther King's birthday, or it was on the holiday. A group of white kids threw a Martin Luther King party. And they had some little kitschy slogan for it like living the dream or something like that. I don't really recall. And a lot of kids showed up. A lot of white kids showed up with their skin darkened in some way or with, you know, other stereotypical things like foil on their teeth or 40s in their hand or pads in their butt to make their butt bigger. And it got out on Facebook. And the way the university responded - it was interesting being on campus. Like, you're - often, you might be the only black person in classes there. And the school - they barely wanted to do anything at all. Let's keep the peace was the bigger response. You know, at the time, I was in college. And I'm like, hey, I'm trying to be a good member of society. And at every turn, it's like you're reminded that you're nothing. And you're always going to be thought of as a joke. I guess every time something like this happens, it takes a chunk out of you.

LILY LEE: My name is Lily Lee (ph). Or my Hmong name is Gao (ph). I'm Hmong American. My siblings - my younger sister, my older sister and my little brother - we made up basically the Asian student body. You know, at first, I didn't really think about it. I just felt like it was school. Then the other children started singing songs. And then they would make these gestures. They would slant their eyes up. And then they would slant it down. And they would pull out their shirts like Christmas trees (unintelligible). And they would sing Chinese, Japanese, what are these? - Christmas trees. And they would do that every single day. When we're walking, they would slant their eyes and say, can you see? Can you see? And, you know, you're supposed to go to school. And you're supposed to feel safe. And I didn't feel safe. I felt tormented. And now looking back, I just feel - I feel angry. I've never, ever spoken about this for the past two decades - two and a half decades. And so it's really nice to just be able to tell you.

BRETT CHAPMAN: My name is Brett Chapman (ph). I'm a member of the Pawnee tribe. And I also am Ponca and Kiowa. You know, growing up in Oklahoma, what we would do is we would celebrate land run days. Basically, they take you out on schoolyard. And you got this little stick with a flag on it. And you just go stake your claim. You know, the girls have little bonnets on. There's these little wagons. They look like covered wagons. I mean, it's just nonsense. We would celebrate Thanksgiving, you know? And you either put the little, black belt buckle on or the hat. Or you do a headdress. You know, I can remember as a child picking - you had to pick one. I'd be the pilgrim, you know? To demean your own culture like that - a headdress has a meaning. In Ponca culture, there's only a few people that can wear headdresses, the line of hereditary chiefs. They can wear headdresses. It's a symbol of authority and respect. But it's just been so stereotyped into a joke. You know, you've got kids cutting out construction paper and putting it on their head and just kind of going around making fools of Indians. And, you know, the harmful aspect of that is no one ever takes it seriously because of that.

BETH PAUTIN: My name is Beth Pautin (ph). I went to a boarding school for high school in Alabama. To raise money for prom and different dances and things, our school would have slave auctions. Folks were allowed to raffle themselves off and stand up in front of everybody on an auction block. Then if you bid the most money, then you got to keep that person for an entire day and make them do whatever you wanted. It really bothered me. I went to talk to the headmaster. And they really weren't willing to change things. But they eventually changed the name to serf sales, I think, by the time I had graduated.

I mean, it certainly makes you feel emotionally vulnerable and a little bit unsafe. And when I think back to all of the things that my family had to endure to be able to just attend school - my grandfather had to sue the Board of Education in order to desegregate schools in the state of Alabama. So access to education is something that I've learned to really appreciate. And to have gotten all the way to the '90s, 30 years after my father desegregated schools, it makes you feel like you still don't belong there. We've had 30 years of participation. But it still is not a place that's safe for me.

SIMON: Important words from Beth Pautin, Brett Chapman, Lily Lee and Corynne Jones.