The Cafeteria

In the first part of the reading on "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria" I found it profoundly interesting that children can almost completely disreguard race. I wouldn't say it surprises me though because it is the nature of a child to be carefree and playful. What changes though when you grow older? I don't know what its like to be a minority in this world and I won't ever know; at least not first hand anyways. But I can see why many white teens and adults for that matter separate themselves from their minority counterparts. It's simple: fear. People fear what they do not understand. In my case, I grew up in a very rural, mostly white community. Many people there were what I considered racist. I believe this was because they weren't exposed to anything except for a white persons world. And many learned racist behavior from their parents who also weren't exposed to any kind of culture. When you put these together it mixes for extreme ideas. Mainly fear of other races overtaking them in some way. It sounds rediculous but I feel its the truth. The point that most people miss is that we are all part of an even bigger community.. the human race.