Racism in Middletown (Frederick, Brunswick: home, transfer, high schools)

[steppinthrax]

I graduated Middletown High School in 2000. I haven't been back since. I remember being bullied and called the N word all the time back then. Just curious has the environment changed much. My parents even suffered verbal harassment etc..

[steppinthrax]

I see no one wants to touch this thread!!!!!!!

[MidValleyDad]

I can't see any reason to respond to the thread. I have not seen this in the almost 20 years I have either lived in the area or that my children attended Middletown schools. I know of teachers that transferred into Middletown schools after having racial incidents in other schools in the county and have thrived here.

I cannot speak to your experiences and I am not naive enough to believe that no pockets of racism exist. But I do not believe it is widespread or the norm in the area

[steppinthrax]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

I can't see any reason to respond to the thread. I have not seen this in the almost 20 years I have either lived in the area or that my children attended Middletown schools. I know of teachers that transferred into Middletown schools after having racial incidents in other schools in the county and have thrived here.

I cannot speak to your experiences and I am not naive enough to believe that no pockets of racism exist. But I do not believe it is widespread or the norm in the area

What are your kids nationality?

Also what years did they attend and which school?

[MidValleyDad]

Originally Posted by steppinthrax

What are your kids nationality?

Also what years did they attend and which school?

Won't tell you what years they attended (It would identify me too easily :-)) but they were in the middle and high schools when you were there.

Nationality - They are Americans.

[Huckleberry3911948]

im sorry that happened to you. it reminds me of the terrible things that were done in new orleans when i was a child.
and now the terrible things that are done in the south that i am an old man, only now the victims are white.
je suis jessica chambers

[steppinthrax]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

Won't tell you what years they attended (It would identify me too easily :-)) but they were in the middle and high schools when you were there.

Nationality - They are Americans.

Weird,

How can I identify one of thousands of students based on what years they attended?

Anyway, you didn't want to give me a direct answer to my question, regarding nationality. Providing a evading answer. I'm fairly certain your kids are Americans. I'm assuming you and your kids are white. Therefore you nor your kids qualify to state "I have not seen this in the almost 20 years I have either lived in the area or that my children attended Middletown schools."

[MidValleyDad]

Based on other comments I have made over the years, combined with that information, Yes someone could possibly identify me.

And you asked for nationality not race. But based on your comments you feel that only people of a certain race are 'qualified' to notice racism?
B*!!$#!t ! This is why I didn't want to get involved in this discussion.

I will state again - I don't disagree that there is some bigotry in the area but I feel it is limited and not widespread. I also know that some people have chosen to work in the Middletown feeder schools instead of some other districts in the county because the area is more open minded than some other areas of the county.

[steppinthrax]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

Based on other comments I have made over the years, combined with that information, Yes someone could possibly identify me.

And you asked for nationality not race. But based on your comments you feel that only people of a certain race are 'qualified' to notice racism?
B*!!$#!t ! This is why I didn't want to get involved in this discussion.

I will state again - I don't disagree that there is some bigotry in the area but I feel it is limited and not widespread. I also know that some people have chosen to work in the Middletown feeder schools instead of some other districts in the county because the area is more open minded than some other areas of the county.

"Open Minded"??

I found the people there actually quite closed minded. You now indicate there is bigotry in the area. Yes, there was definitely bigotry.

If you're white in a school that is 98% white you're likelihood of being discriminated against based on the color of your skin is nill. However, I have plenty of experience and stories of "bigotry" (your words) within the Middletown area.

I have a suspicion that many who choose to go to work in Middletown schools, work there because of the "one sided" demographics.

[tw71]

IMO, you're likely to find what you expect to find, anywhere you go.

I can't really speak for Midletown, as I've only passed through it while driving. But geographically, it's something like a 1.7 square mile area. It's, frankly, a pretty insignificant part of Frederick County as a whole. (Not saying it is or isn't a great place to live, work, attend school, or what-not. Just saying that it's one of many rural areas that make up the county as a whole.)

Any time you have a small enough community, you've got the possibility that the words and actions of a few tend to speak for the whole to a much greater extent than they would in a larger place. So sure, in a town that small, it only takes one or two racist idiots to mouth off a lot and suddenly, they're capable of projecting that image over the whole town (assuming the majority just ignore it and don't make an equal effort to refute it).

But for the record, I live not that far away, in Brunswick. I'm white but I'm married to a black woman and we have a blended family, with 2 of her kids from previous relationships (both mixed race) and my daughter who is white. We haven't run into any bigotry or discrimination in the area, so far. In fact, I see more misunderstanding from visitors who make incorrect assumptions than anything else.

(EG. A woman came into town a while back to write some restaurant reviews, and made some pretty negative comments about Brunswick - largely based on her seeing a Confederate flag waving in front of a home. Well, guess what? That home belonged to a life-time resident of Knoxville, not Brunswick (but she obviously didn't pay attention to where the city boundaries were while driving along). AND, he volunteered for years as a Civil War re-enactment guy. That's why he had the flag up! I believe he recently passed away and someone took his flag down after that.)