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Race Relations |
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 Halfway into a passionate discussion about the teenage pregnancy and gang problems at some Houston-area schools, ninth-grader Sha'Kayla Nunez shared this stereotype:
"It's like the Mexicans got to be pregnant, the blacks got to be ghetto and the white people got to be polite."
Nunez, who is black, didn't believe this. But she, along with the other students at Tuesday's Teen Summit on Race Relations, was searching for a way to articulate the prejudice and racism that color her everyday life.
The annual convention, started by the Inter-Ethnic Forum of Houston 11 years ago, included close to 1,500 students from 80 public and private high schools, stretching across the Houston area, from the wealthiest suburbs to the poorest enclaves. After a rally early that morning, the students split into small discussion groups.
The goal, organizers said, is to spur dialogue about race and related issues among Houston's youngest generation — kids often growing up within a few miles of each other but living completely different lives.
Nunez's group of 12 included a born-again Christian from Cypress Springs High School, a gay student from Sharpstown, a vegetarian from Austin High School in Sugar Land and several students who go to school in some of Houston's poorest inner-city neighborhoods. Two were white, four black, five Hispanic and one Asian.
Organizers handpicked kids for each group who would reflect Houston's demographics.
"These are kids who would never actually mix," summit founder Awanda Whitworth said.
Toni Cervantes, a Sterling High School senior, originally brought up the teen pregnancy issue in Nunez's group. She said she worries about the high dropout rate on her campus, a problem she attributed to pregnancy.
"I've been to like eight baby showers in the past year," said Cervantes, who is Hispanic.
Several other girls nodded their heads. In their schools, they said, pregnancy has almost become the norm.
"I had a teacher once who told me, 'Oh, you're 18 years old and you're Hispanic and you're not pregnant?' " said Nathalie Zuniga, a senior at Aldine High School.
"Were you offended?" asked group leader Jim Courville, a teacher at St. Pius X High School.
"I was," she said. "But that's how society sees it."
Tags: Dating Interracial Dating Race Relations |
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