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May 5, 2005 School boards and administrators throughout the United States are fumbling with quick “Band-Aid” prevention tactics in response to the grave atrocities that are occurring on an all too regular basis in our nation’s schools, and some are actually suggesting the abolition of black clothing. The mere thought of banning a color from a school is as unconstitutional as it is ridiculous — not to mention racist. During my studies in both undergraduate and graduate school, I attended courses and lectures in justice and racism, sociology, psychology, and anthropology, where several of my esteemed university professors explained how an aversion to and/or fear of the color black could reflect a person’s racial bias. If students were forbidden to wear black clothing in a school district, what kind of message would that give our children? What would it say about the school district? The fact that the killers in the 1999 Littleton, Colorado school massacre chose the color black to wear does not mean that every person who wears black is a gun-toting maniac just waiting to explode. On the contrary, some of the most talented people that the world has to offer prefer to don black clothing. The list includes many artists, writers, musicians, actors, scientists, political and religious leaders, priests, nuns, etc., who contribute substantial, positive things to our world and lead productive lives. I am not advocating the abolition of a dress code. Certain things simply do not belong in our schools. For instance, shirts with foul and racist language logos should be banned. But a color? If the killers were wearing white, would there be such talk of banning a color from our schools? In the rush to find solutions, I would strongly urge parents, school boards, and administrators to focus their efforts on implementing anger management programs, peer mediation meetings, and justice and racism workshops, and allow our teens to have the freedom to choose what color they would like to wear. Our children have enough problems to contend with in our society. Being ostracized for the color they choose to wear should not be one of them. ------------ About the author: Christine McGuigan-Bruness is a published author and artist who creates "non linear art from the heart." She is an environmentalist, a lover of cats and flowers, and a devotee of free thinking. Her book Imbalance, An Experimental Collection of Micro Stories and Poetry is available through Amazon.com. It can also be directly purchased from the author. Email her for details: chatnoir@comcast.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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