In the wake of the Trayvon Martin case, the staff of SNN Today, the newspaper and website of the journalism program at Lakewood High, shared their experiences about having been judged by the way they look. These and more voices can be heard at bit.ly/I0aTLq.

Zubin Kapadia, Lakewood senior (photo, top left)
Since the 9/11 attacks, my family and I, we’ve all been sort of judged as people. I guess the most recent moment was a couple of months ago. I was simply just walking down the street on the phone and I was just wearing shirts and pants, and shoes of course. This car pulls up to me and they roll down the windows. There was this really angry looking couple. They yelled out to me, “You Arabian piece of s***,” and then they speed away. Other times I’ve been called terrorist.

Elijah Flewellen, Lakewood sophomore
I was at a baseball camp, I think in Miami. I was one of the only African-American players there. It was kind of like a “Why were you here” feeling? Like I didn’t belong because I was an African-American playing baseball. Not many African-Americans play baseball. The way that I felt when they judged me, it was just awkward. I was young at the time, only 8 or 9 years old. I didn’t know what that feeling felt like before. I don’t think it affected me as I got older because it made me want to play even more. I was pretty much one of the only black players on my teams growing up.

Amelia Alberts, Lakewood sophomore
For me it was a little different. I love changing the color of my hair, getting unique piercings, even tattoos, and dressing a lot of different ways. A lot of people judge me for it. It’s just me expressing myself. I’m not doing it for attention. It’s just what I find beautiful. I’ve been declined friendships, jobs and been offered a lot of unwanted opinions. In the end, I don’t think it matters. It’s how I look and it only matters how it makes me feel. I make my own mistakes and build my own future.

Krystal Ivy, Lakewood junior
One time in ninth grade, we were in biology. My science partner who sat next to me, he was a white boy, and we were just talking having a conversation. He was telling me I wasn’t talking right, like I was supposed to be loud and stuff, because I was really quiet. He was saying that’s how I was supposed to be. I guess that’s what he thought: Black girls were just loud and rude and stuff. He was telling me to act like my race. Actually, at first I was mad because I didn’t like that he was judging me, because not everyone acts the same. I didn’t really say anything back to him. I just got quiet. I mean there are a lot of guys, a lot of white guys out here, who make racist, black-girl jokes in class, and people laugh like it’s funny, but I think it is really ignorant. I think the stereotypes are unnecessary and I think they are almost programmed into people’s (heads) and they can’t get it out.