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Black Law Student Discussion Board / experience at howard for a white student? (in NO way meant as racist thread)
« on: July 14, 2007, 03:43:42 AM »
in another post, someone suggested howard to me based on my lsat and gpa.
i will admit that i thought it was a "black" school, but i just spent quite a bit of time looking at the howard law site and some other howard info on the web, as well as reading a bunch of threads in BLSD about howard and other HBCUs.
please pardon the long post, but this is a big thought. i'm intrigued by howard. (28 years old, white female, graduating undergrad may 08).
i grew up and still live in a moderately sized town in south central pennsylvania. i went to an inner city elementary school where the majority of the black kids were very poor and where white kids were the minority. pretty much all the white kids were in the same section: the smart/gifted section. the white kids were mostly rich or at least well off (my dad had a very good factory job). i remember not knowing enough to directly question this racial/economic divide as an elementary school kid, but it seemed kind of odd. why were all the black kids poor? why were the black kids the ones who came to school early for free breakfast but my mom said i couldn't go? i just remember being confused by it but feeling it was inappropriate to ask.
i moved to a suburban district after 6th grade. there was ONE black girl in my entire junior high. and she was very quiet. very different from the outspoken and sometimes wild black kids i was used to. the white kids at my new school were often racist and as more black students came to our district over the next several years, racial tensions definitely flared. (this was in the early 90s.) (not to mention, i missed all the cool names of my city school classmates: lakeysha, miqualani, eutika, saadiya, shaniqua. my real name is unique and it wasn't until i moved to the 'burbs that suddenly my name was a topic of conversation every time i met someone. i have been asked, seriously, "is that a black name?" about my name, which is siobahn, pronounced shavonne, it's irish. surrounded by other cool names in the city, my name had never been questioned. i've been explaining my name to people ever since i left city schools. i've had boyfriends whose parents, before they met me, would ask if i was black based upon how my name sounded. that is so retarded yet so typical of my area. this is from people who don't think they are racist. the other response to my name is quite different: oh, that's beautiful! is it french?. no one has ever prefaced the "is it black?" with "oh that's beautiful" so that's why i consider it a racist remark.)
i know that racism is alive and kicking in my town and it sucks. it goes both ways and often young black kids do things that don't help themselves and just make things worse. but their lives are so horrible that they don't see consequences or a future beyond tomorrow. the police officer assigned to the city schools said that there are over 300 gangs active in some way in our city! the pressure must be tremendous to join one. i have no idea how that must feel. i hear and read stories about minority kids and violence all the time in our area and it just saddens and amazes me at how hopeless they must feel on a regular basis.
i guess what i'm getting at is, law school is about understanding more than law, it's about understanding society. that's the reason laws exist. i think that having the experience of being immersed in another culture, in fact a culture that exists right here in this country along with and beside my own, is an experience that will benefit me as an attorney and as a human being.
i really don't want to be seen as naive or racist or anything like that. this is all coming from a very good place. but if i'm going to be laughed at, i might as well as find out about it now before i think more about applying to howard.
i'm not expecting to run around all unity and rainbows and be like "oh i have a black friend, how quaint!". but i think that someone in another thread made a very good point - in the photos of classes from other schools, the majority would be white faces. to use a buzzword, i think it would give me a better world view. i like to think of myself as broad minded etc, but honestly, i've had limited experience. i did spend some time on a native american reservation and that just made me feel terrible to be part of the subjugating people. i just really don't understand racism but realize that a mild form of it is ingrained me from my life here. i know very few successful black people. in fact, i know very few black people. i know even fewer latinos or puerto ricans. given the demographics in my area, that really shouldn't be the case.
i don't think i can right the wrongs or any grand view like that. but i figure if i'm paying so much for law school, i might as well come out of it with something more than a j.d. which any number of schools offer.
ok, so i guess my naive view is that i want to feel more part of the world. and the world is not white suburbanites.
please don't flame me because i'm really not trying to be an ass, i'm just trying to have an honest conversation.
thanks for comments.
i will admit that i thought it was a "black" school, but i just spent quite a bit of time looking at the howard law site and some other howard info on the web, as well as reading a bunch of threads in BLSD about howard and other HBCUs.
please pardon the long post, but this is a big thought. i'm intrigued by howard. (28 years old, white female, graduating undergrad may 08).
i grew up and still live in a moderately sized town in south central pennsylvania. i went to an inner city elementary school where the majority of the black kids were very poor and where white kids were the minority. pretty much all the white kids were in the same section: the smart/gifted section. the white kids were mostly rich or at least well off (my dad had a very good factory job). i remember not knowing enough to directly question this racial/economic divide as an elementary school kid, but it seemed kind of odd. why were all the black kids poor? why were the black kids the ones who came to school early for free breakfast but my mom said i couldn't go? i just remember being confused by it but feeling it was inappropriate to ask.
i moved to a suburban district after 6th grade. there was ONE black girl in my entire junior high. and she was very quiet. very different from the outspoken and sometimes wild black kids i was used to. the white kids at my new school were often racist and as more black students came to our district over the next several years, racial tensions definitely flared. (this was in the early 90s.) (not to mention, i missed all the cool names of my city school classmates: lakeysha, miqualani, eutika, saadiya, shaniqua. my real name is unique and it wasn't until i moved to the 'burbs that suddenly my name was a topic of conversation every time i met someone. i have been asked, seriously, "is that a black name?" about my name, which is siobahn, pronounced shavonne, it's irish. surrounded by other cool names in the city, my name had never been questioned. i've been explaining my name to people ever since i left city schools. i've had boyfriends whose parents, before they met me, would ask if i was black based upon how my name sounded. that is so retarded yet so typical of my area. this is from people who don't think they are racist. the other response to my name is quite different: oh, that's beautiful! is it french?. no one has ever prefaced the "is it black?" with "oh that's beautiful" so that's why i consider it a racist remark.)
i know that racism is alive and kicking in my town and it sucks. it goes both ways and often young black kids do things that don't help themselves and just make things worse. but their lives are so horrible that they don't see consequences or a future beyond tomorrow. the police officer assigned to the city schools said that there are over 300 gangs active in some way in our city! the pressure must be tremendous to join one. i have no idea how that must feel. i hear and read stories about minority kids and violence all the time in our area and it just saddens and amazes me at how hopeless they must feel on a regular basis.
i guess what i'm getting at is, law school is about understanding more than law, it's about understanding society. that's the reason laws exist. i think that having the experience of being immersed in another culture, in fact a culture that exists right here in this country along with and beside my own, is an experience that will benefit me as an attorney and as a human being.
i really don't want to be seen as naive or racist or anything like that. this is all coming from a very good place. but if i'm going to be laughed at, i might as well as find out about it now before i think more about applying to howard.
i'm not expecting to run around all unity and rainbows and be like "oh i have a black friend, how quaint!". but i think that someone in another thread made a very good point - in the photos of classes from other schools, the majority would be white faces. to use a buzzword, i think it would give me a better world view. i like to think of myself as broad minded etc, but honestly, i've had limited experience. i did spend some time on a native american reservation and that just made me feel terrible to be part of the subjugating people. i just really don't understand racism but realize that a mild form of it is ingrained me from my life here. i know very few successful black people. in fact, i know very few black people. i know even fewer latinos or puerto ricans. given the demographics in my area, that really shouldn't be the case.
i don't think i can right the wrongs or any grand view like that. but i figure if i'm paying so much for law school, i might as well come out of it with something more than a j.d. which any number of schools offer.
ok, so i guess my naive view is that i want to feel more part of the world. and the world is not white suburbanites.
please don't flame me because i'm really not trying to be an ass, i'm just trying to have an honest conversation.
thanks for comments.
