I Have Never Experienced Discrimination - 808 Words

I have never experienced discrimination on a really serious level before. I always try to hang out with good, positive people, that way I do not end up in situations where people are being hateful. In the eighth grade I experienced discrimination for the first time when my friends Alivia, Valerie, and I wanted to join the basketball team. There were only boys on the team so when they saw that we wanted to join them they were not too thrilled. The guys on the team made us feel insecure about playing just because of our gender. It was around two o’clock in the afternoon, and seventh period was beginning. Alivia, Valerie, and I joined the basketball elective; however, little did we know, we were the only girls in the class. There†¦show more content†¦I was not at all surprised. â€Å"Kyle,† James said. As soon as the words left his mouth, he grabbed a ball and the two teams started setting up. They completely ignored us and started the game. When Valerie went on t he court to protest, Noah yelled, â€Å"Get off the court! Interference! You’re in the way! Gosh girls are so dumb.† Our teacher did nothing to help us. He just refereed the game. â€Å"Hey, coach. They didn’t put us on teams,† I said trying to get him to acknowledge that there is a problem. â€Å"Sorry they’re already playing. Yeah! Nice shot Ryan!† He responded, barely paying attention. â€Å"But that isn’t fair we should get to play too.† He looked at me blankly for a few seconds, then turned away and spoke, â€Å"You can go to the small court and play with the sixth graders. Way to rebound James! Good Job!† This was my breaking point. I ran onto the court and stole the ball. â€Å"Hey! What’re you doing?† Noah said. â€Å"We want to play and you guys didn’t put us on your teams,† I said angrily. â€Å"Well that wouldn’t have been fair, you’re girls. You’re not as good as we are.† All I could think was, are they really that ignorant? I already knew the answer. My discriminatory incident relates to how Aunt Alexandra acts about Scout being un- lady-like in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout has been raised with two male figures in the house, so not being interested in â€Å"lady-likeness† is completely rational.