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Matters of Race. Essays
The
Divide.
By John "People tend to stare at our school a lot." Ramzey is a senior
at Dearborn High School in Dearborn, Michigan. He is also Arab American.
"We have a huge Arab population. At school, there are two different
races, Arabs and Whites, with a very few Blacks. Fights are a problem
between the races."
Dearborn, Michigan is traditionally known for its Arab and Muslim population.
The Federal Government focussed extreme scrutiny on the community of
100,000 after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Arab Americans constitute
20% of Dearborn's total population, and 41% of those enrolled in public
school are Arab American. Tensions between Arab Americans and Whites
festered for many years prior to the 2001 terrorist attacks. After 9/11,
many in the area wondered if serious problems would occur, fed by waves
of patriotic and anti-Middle Eastern sentiment.
Students at Dearborn High School live with the reality of the ethnic
background of their community. The same racial tensions that made national
headlines are daily experiences for some Dearborn High Students. "Fights
happen," said Ramzey. "At the end of some days the building
is divided.
All the Arab students are clumped together and all the White students
are together. This is when the fights start."
Tension between the Arab Americans and Caucasians existed before the
2001 terrorist attacks. Elayna is a junior at Dearborn High. She is
Caucasian. She said, "Dearborn has gotten a lot of attention since
9/11. I think that many people expected that there would be racial problems,
but I think we proved them wrong. Not much changed."
That isn't to say that everyone has gotten along perfectly before,
or after, 9/11. Ramzey said, "People have always been barking at
each other."
Elayna said, "We have fights every now and then. Usually it is
quiet for a while and then something huge will happen, but it isn't
every day."
Ramzey said, "My cousin attended Dearborn High before I did. One
day he told me about a fight after school. The Arab Americans had cornered
some group and their argument turned into a fight. Someone was thrown
through the glass of the school trophy case. The custodian had a huge
mess to clean up."
Problems don't only exist between the Arab Americans and Caucasians.
"Sometimes the Arabs fight amongst themselves. Some days students
from Fordson High School will come over and cause trouble with the Arab
American students at Dearborn," said Ramzey. "Our security
guards will escort them away." Dearborn High has almost a dozen
security guards to maintain order.
Sporadic incidents occur, but violence between ethnic groups is not
something that is occurring every second. Dooley said, "Outside
of Dearborn High, people get along better than they do at the school.
They don't seem to make such a big deal about the differences between
the ethnic groups. I guess that's good."
Elayna said that the situation at Dearborn High had not become violent
enough to warrant some type of organized intervention such as a tolerance
program, but Ramzey stated, "I think that someone should come in
and slap some sense into the students. Intervention is probably a good
idea."
Regardless of problems between ethnic groups, Ramzey said "There
will always be fights, whether they are related to race or not."
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