I've Got 99 Prob-Lem-Lems but a Bitch Ain't One

Diversity programs are useless. If you are a teenager, it’s no doubt that you’ve been to over 50 of these seminars where adolescents of all races meet and discuss their differences. Great. Pseudo understanding of people’s issues with color and poverty is definitely a progressive step for future generations. However, many of the white students at these programs will never understand the life of a black kid or a Mexican kid. Their backgrounds are just too different. In an attempt to bridge that gap, I went to a ghetto ass high school. I took part in the culture. I went to crappy malls and had my white t-shirts airbrushed with my name:

Mo- Licious
I had photos taken of me with a black silhouette draped behind me as I stared emptily into the camera with my collar popped. These pictures would grow worn and tattered in my friends’ wallets. I listened to these various club favorites countless times:

Yeah!- Usher
Grillz- Nelly
Temperature- Sean Paul
Party Like A Rock Star- The Shop Boyz

However, while white kids with no exposure to hip hop culture were ironically worshipping these mostly unbearable songs, the group I was with honestly appreciated this music. And that’s where diversity conferences get lost and fail to put together the pieces in modern race relations.

White people will always be naïve towards other cultures, unless they fully immerse themselves in what is real. No conference shit with Costco bagels and Minute Maid Cran Apple juice. No hip hop on MTV2. No, white people (like myself) need to go to ghetto high schools and learn to live a different life. One without all the financial privileges. One without the constant suburbia safety net. The one where the step team captain is more popular than the quarterback. It’s not too bad either. All of the preconceived notions about different socioeconomic classes are far from the truth, and the only way for the white man to understand is to walk a mile in another pair of shoes.

Now I’m not advocating the idea that all minorities are poor, stupid, ignorant or whatever the Klan says. In fact, the poorest, stupidest and most ignorant people I know are generally Caucasian. Thus, the white kids at my school (a crisp 8% of us). I’m suggesting that the biggest difference between classes is money, like I mentioned before. If this generation never witnesses real poverty (the sad truth about ghetto ass high schools, more than anything) from an INSIDER’S perspective, this generation will never understand what the true meaning of diversity is, and diversity conferences will continue to fail.

Moral: Don’t act like you understand, go out there and really understand.