Thursday, April 16, 2009

INTERNATIONAL DAY

Barbara had a pretty good post today about affirmative action and I try to stay away from stuff like that (all you have to do is read both my lenghty comments) but she reminded me of a post I had brewing a while back.
I was supposed to have pictures and everything, but I don't know where I put them.

They had an International Day at my son's High School last year.
It was a Fashion Show where the kids dressed in the garb of their ethnicity.
It was a Music Show where they played music from their own cultures.
There were many ethnic foods there.
Represented were lots of kids from Indian, Asian, African, Polynesian, and Middle Eastern cultures.
There were a good number of Latinos.
A few kids represented Anglo-Saxon and Germanic peoples.
Like kids do, they mixed and matched and got along so well, checking out the different threads, and dancing to the multicultural music.

33 years ago I graduated from that very same High School.
We did not need an International Day.
We had maybe a handful of Latino kids and one black dude named Stan that was one of my buddies.
There was no International Day.
There was very little diversity.
Hell, the most exotic name in the whole school was "Gonzales" and he didn't even look Mexican.
He looked like a 'Smith"!

So as I looked at the 300 or so kids that participated in International Day, I couldn't help but think to myself
NOW THIS IS AMERICA!

3 comments:

petra michelle; Whose role is it anyway? said...

Amen, Bulletholes!

Re: your comment on "twitter". Exactly why I was wondering whether I should -- because it would take time -- just like anything else!

Barbara said...

Definitely America, a melting pot these days. I'm all for events like this that celebrate EVERYONE, not singling out particular minorities. What a great potluck dinner that school could have...

GrizzBabe said...

Diversity is always a good thing!