Different races are exposed to different cultures and when everyone knows about some aspect and you don't, you will feel left out and experience culture shock.
My elementary school and middle school were about 95% black with rest mostly being white and my high school was about 85% white with the next largest percentage being Asian. The kinds of music, tv shows, and activities people did on the weekend had barely any overlap. Its not that those part of the culture are only for one race, or that you think one culture is better than another, its just what you are used to. I was exposed to and learn to like a lot of new things, but theres plenty I learned about and just didn't like. It just took time to figure those things out.
What bothered most of the other minority students the most is that just because we would sit together at lunch, somehow we were being racists, when in fact it was just wanting to talk about things that most of the other school had either no clue or no interest in talking about. It wasn't closed off, but usually the only people that would come sit at the "black" table were other students who had attended an inner city school like the rest of us.
Quick question, what was your experience as a white person in a majority black school? I always hear about the plight of black students in majority white schools but never the inverse.
I'll jump in and give you an answer. From 7th to 10th grade I attended a majority black school (a common "solution" to No Child Left Behind in the south eastern US was to move accelerated programs (IB etc) to the lowest preforming school to keep averages above the level required for funding). There definitely was tension (probably exacerbated by the academic divide on top of the racial one) most noticeable in interactions with the administration. Neither group having any incentive to integrate lead to a general feeling of "otherness" but I couldn't say I remember any overt prejudiced on the level experienced by people in the inverse situation.
I went to middle school in a majority black school. In all honesty, most of the white kids were in the honors courses and generally segregated from everyone else. In high school I chilled with more black people because the area was very country-culture influenced and we generally felt out of place.
Ok cool, I thought so but just wanted to ask. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I'm black and have never been in a majority black school (always either asian or white) so I lack perspective.
My elementary school and middle school were about 95% black with rest mostly being white and my high school was about 85% white with the next largest percentage being Asian. The kinds of music, tv shows, and activities people did on the weekend had barely any overlap. Its not that those part of the culture are only for one race, or that you think one culture is better than another, its just what you are used to. I was exposed to and learn to like a lot of new things, but theres plenty I learned about and just didn't like. It just took time to figure those things out.
What bothered most of the other minority students the most is that just because we would sit together at lunch, somehow we were being racists, when in fact it was just wanting to talk about things that most of the other school had either no clue or no interest in talking about. It wasn't closed off, but usually the only people that would come sit at the "black" table were other students who had attended an inner city school like the rest of us.