Ding….. 3rd Floor
I just got back from watching American History X with Eddie and his residents and the cultural discussion that followed was quite interesting. There was a lot of talk about racism. There were people of multiple races there; White, black, Hispanic, Asian. I think it is interesting how the presence of other races played a role in the game we were playing. In the game, a statement was read and you had to agree or disagree with it and say why. The statements were for example: All black people are loud, agree or disagree. So needless to say if you agreed with this statement it would be awkward. It is also interesting to me that our society has so potently expressed to us the evil of racism that I notice myself and my friends afraid to even say the word black without looking around first. To me, this is grossly the opposite of what we are trying to accomplish. It is in reality society reminding us that there is difference between us and highlighting it. I think that the efforts schools and other programs have taken to reduce and eliminate racism have been successful only in the fact that people in our generation are only afraid to be racist. This doesn’t eliminate the problem. I think people need to look at the clashing of cultures. For the roles that society demands we play are based on our culture. Black culture is different from white culture and demands different behavior. I’m not really sure how to go about teaching the next generation about race, but I think if there is ever going to be more forward progress, we need to stop treating minorities like they are handicapped (affirmative action, race scholarships, etc…) and start looking at the big picture.
That being said, something else I was thinking about while getting on the elevator which is really slow but right next to the stairs, is that when you live on the third floor, it is right in that gap between a pain in the ass to go up the stairs and not worth waiting for the elevator. I usually will take the elevator if it is on the ground floor when I get there, but take the stairs if it is not. Maybe this is what they had in mind when they designed such a painfully slow elevator. God knows I could use the exercise.
