And the fists flew...

So I recently came across an article on the front page of the Seattle Times web site, that got me a lil fired-up.

The story re-hashed an incident dating back to 1997, where tempers flared in a high school basketball game between Garfield and Redmond. The story notes that the cause of the friction wasn’t adolescent male aggression, but race. The re-telling of the story was prompted by a recent brouhaha between the two schools earlier this month.

Shocking...A media outlet playing up-the race card.

The first question that came to mind, was: “Why bring-up such an old story?”

Is it still relevant today? I mean, if race relations are as bad as this story makes them out to be, why did they have to dig so deep into the archives to find another example? Shouldn’t race-fueled acts of aggression/violence be peppering the headlines every day…and not happening once every 10 years?

I am not going so far as to say race-relations are perfect now that we are in the ‘Age of Obama,’ but why harp on the negatives?

More upsetting to me was the gross over-simplification of the cause of the fight by the mainstream media.

There are a myriad of issues that play into the grudges that do exist between Suburban and Urban schools. Not the least of which is economics.

Sure, race is an easy divider. But the one that really hurts is economics.

As a white student at a predominantly black high school, I saw the dichotomy from the other side of the coin. I shared the same angst towards the ‘Eastside’ (read: Rich/White) schools as any other Rainier Beach High School student (read: Not Rich/Not White).

The feeling of being short-changed in comparison to the ‘haves’ of the world was exacerbated when taking one of the few AP-level classes Rainier Beach offered. The class was nearly canceled as there were not enough textbooks for the class. Meanwhile, on a visit to an eastside school that same year, I saw laptops and new computer labs. (Laptops were a very big deal in 1996-1997.)

I really didn’t have an issue with any of the eastside students just because they were white, I had an issue because they were so well-off and not only seemingly didn’t appreciate it…but they acted as if it was owed to them. *Maybe those eastside kids were unwittingly on to something, perhaps every student is deserving of a top-notch education. But all I did know was that we at Rainier Beach sure weren't getting one.

Only adding to the condescension was when eastside schools would ‘adopt’ or ‘partner’ with Rainier Beach. This was when in an attempt to broaden horizons, (read: assuage white-guilt) a school would invite Rainier Beach students to their school for a look at the good life and then, in-turn would spend a day slumming on a tour of Rainier Beach.

Instead of seeing how much we had in common, these tours only magnified the differences between the haves (them) and the have-nots (us).

So what does this have to do with a fight at a basketball game? Quite a bit actually.

Over-simplifying the cause of this brawl by attributing it to race is simply wrong. The issues are socio-economic.

And as long as everyone wants to focus on attention-grabbing headlines instead of reporting on the actual root causes of problems (urban decay as wealth has left the cities for the ‘burbs and/or the fact that in cities like Seattle the average blue-collar family has been priced-out of home ownership) fights and tensions are bound to persist.

For the record, high school dudes are gonna fight. Fights happen in high schools all over the country, regardless of racial make-up. Testosterone and egos are a volatile mix (regardless of age). Add a cheering crowd and maybe a couple of cute ladies and viola- a young fella is gonna get a over-zealous and the fists start flying.

To claim race is the driving force of tension is making a mountain out of a molehill and subverting the bigger issues like offering all American youths the same shot at a quality education.
For what it’s worth, I was able to complete that AP class in high school, and though I am not sure what the subject was, I’ll never forget that I was only able to do so because the teacher was able to finagle getting the books from a ‘better-off’ school.

I used experiences like that as fuel as I paid my way through college. But looking back at stories like that, it’s easy to see why so many kids feel like second-class citizens and just give-up

I am living proof that urban schools produce reasonable members of society. But I had to work a lil harder than suburban kids as my resources were limited.

Am I still pissed about it? Hell yeah.

But seeing as I am not 16, I am not going to punch anyone in the face over it. And I don’t think any other members of my graduating class are either. We need to work together to bridge the gaps in education/opportunities given to all students.

The real question is why don't we see anything about the education gap on the front page?