More on the Radford Incident & School Imagery
Yesterday, Radford High School students had a rally to show that not everything at the school is negative.
The negative image came about after last week's fight between African American students (most of them children of military personell at Pearl Harbor Naval Base/ Hickam Air Force Base) and "local" students. Racial slurs were exchanged as well as punches.
Radford students now say that most of its students aren't racist, and some of the African Americans there say that they get along with non-blacks as well.
To learn more check out
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/05/ln/ln15p.html
Of course, just because a negative incident happened, doesn't mean positive stuff doesn't happen at Radford High.
This reminds me of this time when I was about the go from Kawananakoa Middle School to McKinley High School. One of my then-friends was so chicken-shit about going to McKinley High due to the presence of gangs at the school. I kept telling that guy that my brother attended that school and nothing happened to him. That "friend" continued to whine and be scared.
All that "friend" knew about McKinley High were the gang incidents, the fight between Samoans and Vietnamese, and the presence of students from the notorious Central Middle School. He had no idea that McKinley High School also had a large presence of students who win math meets, science fairs and other intellectual affairs. McKinley has a large # of students who go on to elite universities.
But most middle school students about to enter high school don't care about that stuff. They only talk about violent incidents. That's why that "friend" was so chicken-shit about attending McKinely High School. Only after attending the school did he realize McKinley wasn't as violent as others have said it was!
Of course, neither could we put our hands in the sand and pretend ethnic violence is absent at McKinley High. IT'S NOT! Violent incidents between Samoans and Vietnamese, and Filipinos vs Vietnamese need serious analysis, something the local papers IGNORED!
However, Not all Vietnamese hate all Samoans, not all Samoans hate Vietnamese.
We must focus on both the negative and the positive. To do otherwise will only make things worse!
