Two years had passed since middle school best friends Lashonda Wilson and Stacy Jones went to different high schools. Lashonda liked Dunrobin High and excelled in her favorite subjects, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in classes where boys were in the majority. She questioned why more girls did not select the Sciences, and like her, enjoy setting up experiments, anticipating and examining results. Stacy liked the Sciences too, but never mentioned the classes at Excelsior Magnet. Did she continue with the Sciences? They had not communicated since they attended the nativity play, Bethlehem Revisited during the Christmas season. It was almost three months since they last spoke. Perhaps Stacy would appreciate a call over the weekend.
The …show more content…
It was as if racism is systemic in this country. Every facet of society displayed widespread racism. It was in the entertainment industry where black actors received comparatively few offers for work. It was in the education system where schools in black neighborhoods lacked adequate resources, needed repairs and received C, D, and F grades. The advertising industry was no better and showed other races on television ninety-five percent of the time while often portraying blacks in a negative light. The justice system was the chief offender. Black men are targets, racially profiled, hounded and killed. The same people, who swore to protect and serve, fail black residents. A report stated that in one State, the police used the faces of black men for target practice. They incarcerate Black men disproportionately and comprise in excess of seventy percent of the prison population. The information from Stacy saddened and terrified Lashonda. She did not focus on it and asked …show more content…
What news would it hold? Good news? Sad news? Either way she would go to college. Other colleges had accepted her and offered full scholarships. Still the family hankered for a full scholarship to the top rated Trelawny University with the excellent neuroscience program. A scientist at heart and a budding neuroscientist, Lashonda yearned to take her place in a laboratory participating in research to discover a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. A fourteen-year-old boy had designed a test for pancreatic cancer, why should not she
The …show more content…
It was as if racism is systemic in this country. Every facet of society displayed widespread racism. It was in the entertainment industry where black actors received comparatively few offers for work. It was in the education system where schools in black neighborhoods lacked adequate resources, needed repairs and received C, D, and F grades. The advertising industry was no better and showed other races on television ninety-five percent of the time while often portraying blacks in a negative light. The justice system was the chief offender. Black men are targets, racially profiled, hounded and killed. The same people, who swore to protect and serve, fail black residents. A report stated that in one State, the police used the faces of black men for target practice. They incarcerate Black men disproportionately and comprise in excess of seventy percent of the prison population. The information from Stacy saddened and terrified Lashonda. She did not focus on it and asked …show more content…
What news would it hold? Good news? Sad news? Either way she would go to college. Other colleges had accepted her and offered full scholarships. Still the family hankered for a full scholarship to the top rated Trelawny University with the excellent neuroscience program. A scientist at heart and a budding neuroscientist, Lashonda yearned to take her place in a laboratory participating in research to discover a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. A fourteen-year-old boy had designed a test for pancreatic cancer, why should not she