The Racist Comment

All humans deserve to be treated equally but are not. All over the world, every day, people are treated with disrespect for many reasons. They can be ridiculed for race, personality, or belief. I believe we all deserve equality until our actions have earned us better or worse treatment.

One day I was being made fun of for no reason, and I was confused. On the night of May 2nd I was getting ready for bed around ten o’clock. I was almost asleep when my sister yelled from the kitchen, “Humzah! Guess what?!” All of a sudden I was extremely excited. That was her Humzah-it’s-a-two-hour-delay-voice. I knew it was May but I said,

“Two hour delay?” hopefully.

“No, better.” She replied

“No way! School cancelled?” I said.

“No! Now shut up. OSAMA BIN LADEN DIED!”

I ran downstairs and my family turned on the TV. President Obama was about to confirm Bin Laden’s death. After he made the speech I went to bed. I didn’t really feel any different; the death hadn’t really sunk in yet.

I woke up the next morning and got dressed, like I did the day before. I got on the bus and started talking to one of my friends. All of a sudden this kid turned around and said a joke to me. “Humzah, I heard your dad died last night.” Normally, I would be in pain if I heard someone say this to me, but my dad wasn’t actually dead. I was the target of a racist joke.

Racism is never really funny and this is no exception. This was not funny or clever in any way. I told him, “Hey, I’m not even from the Middle East.”

I laughed awkwardly with everyone else to hide my pain. I was actually feeling pretty bad, no one likes to be the butt of any joke. I let go of the remark soon and the rest of the day went smoothly. I knew I was being treated poorly, and my belief that everyone should be treated equally was general, but now it was being tested. When I got home the emotional wound of the joke had pretty much healed I didn’t know if I should tell my parents, because I knew that they would overreact. I opted not to tell them. Fortunately, I didn’t have to think too much about the joke, I had many things to keep my mind off of it like music, homework, and shooting hoops. I fell asleep hoping that I would not have to endure any more racist jokes the day after.

The next day was different. I must have talked too loudly about the incident because my math teacher was calling me out into the hallway. I thought I was in trouble because I didn’t know that he knew about the comment. Even though I wasn’t in trouble he still frightened me, because he has intimidation working for him big time. He gave me a talk about me being a minority in this community and that racism is not to be tolerated in a public school. He asked me the name of the kid who had ridiculed me and I obliged.

Later that week I was in the principal’s office. He also gave me a talk about racism and how people often made fun of him in school because he is black. He told me that people made fun of brown people for being terrorists and black people for being gangsters and eating watermelon. He said he hoped that this wouldn’t happen again. He said he would talk to the kid and call my parents. That was the end of that conversation, but when I got home my parents were waiting. They told me that I should always tell an adult if someone emotionally attacks me.

My parents helped me realize that I was being treated unfairly on the bus and that I need to stand up for myself. I know I am part of a minority and I should be proud. I believe all human beings deserve equality.