Not Believed Because of the Color of My Skin
By angel_smiles
@Lolaze (5093)
St. Louis, Missouri
August 5, 2015 12:14pm CST
When I was in high school, we had a school social worker instead of a school counselor. (Chalk this up to the fact it was an alternative school for kids at a high risk of not graduating.) I would often tell her how bad my neighborhood was. For awhile, we had two guys dealing drugs out of the house next door to us. Seeing prostitutes on the street corners wasn't unheard of. There was even a drive by shooting where a guy was killed. I already had PTSD from other events in my life and these things only made it worse.
Some years later, I went back to visit the social worker. She then was working a different job that happened to put her working in my neighborhood. She admitted she had never believed me about how bad it was until she saw it for herself. The reason? Because I was a white girl (she happened to be black) and she didn't believe a white girl could be living in an area like that. She told me she thought back then that I was watching TV shows and making things up.
I couldn't believe it...and I've never forgiven her for it.
10 people like this
8 responses
@Rosekitty (19368)
• San Marcos, Texas
5 Aug 15
Some people no matter the color always feel people make things up and you had to be the one who lived through it..so sorry
3 people like this
@cupkitties (7421)
• United States
5 Aug 15
Believe me dear she is not the only one who thinks like that. Part of that ignorance comes from the way the media displays us. Black people have the same problems only worse because the media is always putting them in a bad light. I bet there are plenty of whites that don't think a black person can be successful and live in a good place.
I lived in a bad neighborhood when I was very young and people look at me like "yeah right", til I show them the home address of my birth certificate, then they shut up.
It should be fairly obvious that any race of people can be living in a crappy neighborhood, but some people have what they see on the television too deeply ingrained in their minds, they don't see reality.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (157837)
• United States
5 Aug 15
If she was really doing her job she would have at least taken a little drive to see for herself.
1 person likes this
@Lolaze (5093)
• St. Louis, Missouri
5 Aug 15
It was only when she had to start having school police officers escort her on home visits as part of her new job that she finally believed me.
@inertia4 (27961)
• United States
5 Aug 15
And this person is a social worker? Really? An educated woman? Now that I don't believe. If she couldn't understand that what you were saying was true, there is something wrong with her, not you. This actually blows my mind. I didn't grow up in a neighborhood that bad, but where I live, those neighborhoods are all around us. So I know what goes on there. I wouldn't forgive her either.
2 people like this
@cupkitties (7421)
• United States
5 Aug 15
I wondered that also, but not too surprised though. I don't even consider school social workers to be real social workers. They (the ones that work for the school) are all highly ignorant. My family had to deal with them multiple times when we were little. Once they accused my parents of abuse because we came to school, clothes covered in dirt. If they'd bothered to ask, they would have known we stopped and played at the playground on the way to the bus stop.
1 person likes this
@Lolaze (5093)
• St. Louis, Missouri
5 Aug 15
@cupkitties I do know her background...the scary part is she worked for Children's services (working with kids who had been abused) and for a hospital, before working for our school!
2 people like this
@cupkitties (7421)
• United States
5 Aug 15
@Lolaze That's crazy. In all that time she should have seen different. Obviously she's the one watching too much tv.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70035)
• United States
5 Aug 15
Yes this is common place. I call it reverse racism lolz. I lived in a nearly all black neighborhood at one time in my childhood. It was a time in my life that taught me well. It happens that people do not believe you because of skin color. So sorry that you had to deal with that, I have too. Another side of this is that just becoz you are a skin color not all people identify with the skin color they were born with. What can you do but do this
@UnkyGreggy (171)
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
5 Aug 15
Your life's experience is the truth about America. The color of ones skin doesn't exclude them from the foul components in society. Of course it was considered impossible for any race of people to believe a Black man can become president, but guess what?
2 people like this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
5 Aug 15
Well that's a turn around for the books. I agree with Gerty though...........the least she could have done would have been to take a drive and see for herself!
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
6 Aug 15
@Lolaze Well here on the Lot as long as one shows respect, all you will find is love and support. Trust me on that! And if someone here gets up your nose just let me know..........I'm a master at diffusion! Really........
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (207487)
• Walnut Creek, California
4 Nov 15
I've had the same thing happen to me. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago and saw/experienced things I wish I might have been spared. One old friend recently told me she hadn't believed me when I told her some of the stories when we were in college together. It made me sad. I'm doing OK as an adult, and I think the things I saw made me better at what I do.
@Lolaze (5093)
• St. Louis, Missouri
4 Nov 15
Now this lady is living those stories every day as part of her new,position...karma!
