Hah, I didn't see all the reaction to my post. Erica, it wasn't "traumatic", I was a relatively tough kid. I just look back and couldn't believe that that happened in the third grade.
In the 4th grade, I had a conversation with a black girl (don't remember the context).. so she said "I'm proud to be black" - and so I said "I'm proud to be white" - her and her friends laughed, and she slapped me in the face.
In the 5th grade, and melangian pulled a magazine I was reading away from me so he could see it, so I pulled it back, and then he punched me in the senstitive area of my chest - I couldn't breath for about 15 or 20 seconds. Nothing happened to him.
About 7 years ago, I was in a card store, and the little melangian (maybe 5) came up to me and started hitting me in my leg with a cardboard tube. I moved away and he got closer and continued. So the mother finally saw this, and continued looking at cards. I looked straight at her, she looked back, and I kept direct eye contact for a good 5 seconds until she finally pulled him away - not saying anything to him!
I probably have a million more stories... give me some time to reminisce
I have some evil white people stories also.
In 1st grade I had the displeasure of having a racist teacher. She hated black children and happened to say it on a daily basis...TO US. She use to downgrade children in front of each other and she would separate the smart black kids (whom she considered her special tokens...because to her, they reminded her of smart little white kids. )
This one incident occured as I was heading towards the front door of the school. Before I could reach the door, this hulking boy had pushed his way out of the building, through the door, then knocked me down on the concrete; head first. The next thing I remember is getting up, dusting myself off, checking my scraped left elbow and running into the classroom so that I wouldn't be late. I must have been knocked out because when I went into the classroom, it was full. Roll had already been called and now, I was officially late. When I t ried to tell her why I was late, she told me to shut up and sit down.
For my punishment, my teacher asked me to sit next to her during the lunch period and write 20 lines.."I will not be tardy and I will wear my glasses"(which was my only infraction. I couldn't see woth a damn.) During class (before lunch) I had interrupted the class to ask if I could go to the nurse's office because I felt sick. I was dizzy and couldn't keep my eyes open. Whenever I opened my mouth to ask her for help, she'd cut her eyes at me and tack on 5 additional lines.
During the lunch period, I laid my head down on the desk (she didn't allow me to eat lunch) feeling light-headed. She caught me and basically told me that I was a nuissance and that I was faking. I don't know how I got through the day without breaking down, but it wasn't until I went home and 'got sick' in one of the first floor offices that I was taken to the doctor by my mom. When I told the doctor what happened, he verified that I had a concussion from falling on my head.
When I told my mom what happened and why my teacher didn't allow me to go to the nurse's office, she came up to the school the next day and gave the teacher a peice of her mind. The teacher kept saying "I thought she was faking..I though she was faking." She pulled a few more stunts like that with other students and was finally fired for her actions.
Second incident
I was walking to school at 15 years old and a white man pulled up while i was crossing the street. He asked me if I was "working". I told him I was going to school and then he pulled off, calling me a whore. I wasn't dressed provocatively and I had my books in my hand...yet, I was a whore because I didn't stop to let him take advantage of me. I'm convinced that if I wasn't street smart, I would have died that day at the hands of a pedophile.
Third incident
Church trip to Minnesota. A pastor who's church we were going to be singing at invited the choir to his home. The home was beautiful and I think it had two kitchens. All of the young people were invited to go bike riding around the property and a few blocks up the road on the pastor's kids' bikes. While we were riding, I witnessed some white neighbors peer out to see who 'we' were...rolling their eyes. We weren't rowdy at all. We were just in a place where there were NO black people.
And guess what? Through all of that, I STILL don't hate ALL white people because ALL white people did anything to me.
First year in college, 1992. Witnessed swastika's being painted on our college campus walls. Some messages left were "Go home, ngrs!"