By Jaeden Davis
Comment

Students create self-segregation among themselves. This has been a growing topic at Grady and seems to be getting worse. During Grady’s three lunch periods, Caucasian students mostly sit outside in the courtyard at the tables. While on the inside, toward the back of the cafeteria, there are mainly African-American students.

This is a problem because Grady is known as a diverse and equal school. But in reality, Grady is just as normal and ordinary as any other high school. Grady’s motto, “Individually we are different, together we are Grady” is supposed to represent the school’s wide range of diversity and equality. From the cafeteria to the classroom, Grady has a huge amount of self-segregation.

When you enter the cafeteria, who do you decide to sit next to? Someone you know and talk to? Or someone you don’t know?

You’re more likely to sit next to someone you know rather than someone you don’t know. This is because we are so used to being with our usual friends, and we have no interest in trying to make new ones. Our whole lives we have been so judgmental about who to sit next to or who to partner up with on a project. This is causing the students to acquire very little work ethic both in communication between races and diversity.

This has been an issue since the beginning of the school year and occurs at the Grady football games. Caucasian students sit in one giant bunch while African-American students spread out across the bleachers.

Before this school year, most of Grady’s Caucasian students attended Inman Middle School. Even there, self-segregation was an issue. During Inman’s lunch periods, students had an option to either sit in the cafeteria or in the gym. But, there was a catch. The only way that you could sit in the gym was if you brought your own lunch. Meaning that if you didn’t bring your own lunch to school, you would have to sit in the cafeteria.

This was an absurd concept. It was unfair for the African-American students because they were basically forced to eat in the cafeteria, considering most African-american students bought their lunch. The concept has carried over to Grady, which is one of the reasons why self-segregation is an issue here.

We can’t keep living our lives as an oblivious illusion. African-Americans and Caucasian people need to converse more. This will make the school better and more diverse, as it claims to be. Will the next generation be like us, ignoring the fact that there are hundreds of other people to communicate with? This would make the situation even worse and harder to cope with. It’s crazy to think that in 10 years, future students could cause the next phase of self-segregation. It’s time to stand up for what’s right, and end self-segregation and live up to the motto: “Individually we are different, together we are Grady.”