Siddhartha

The passage is from a book I read my freshaman year of college, and the title "Why Are The Black Kids Sitting Togehter in the Cafeteria?" written by Beverly Daniel Tatum, PH. D.  "The impact of racism gegins early.  Even in our preschool years, we are exposed to misinformation about people different from ourselves.  Many of us grew up in neighborhods where we had limited opportunities to interact with people different from our families.
The meaning of the passage I've chosen just proves that there is still  a great deal of social segregation  in our communities.  Mainly this comes from a lack of knowledge and secondhand information we receive has been distorted, shaped by cultural sterotypes, and left imcomplete.
This passage is important to me because, when I first arrived in America I was treated horribly by the students in my 5th grade class.  I had a heavy Caribbean accent as teased everyday.  My mother had to explain that "most American's" believe that if you don't speak "english" your different.  I thought it was strange but, as a child I knew I spoke english and could'nt figure out why my english wasn't the proper version of english?  I felt leftout and alienated from my peers. Finally I realized what the issue was, and it was my accent and how I pronounced words.  It was a difficult time for me but back then and as I work with children I remind them and my own daughter that you can't judge others because you feel that they are not what your use to.