Profiling is wrong
Racial profiling is a danger around the world.
This topic is a big concern nowadays, because people are being put in difficult situations either because of the color of their skin or what nationality they are.
Some people don’t really know the consequences of being racist to someone. It hurts so many people. Race shouldn’t be the reason why they put someone down. I mean, people are born the way they are for a reason.
People are dying every single day because of the color of their skin. They’re getting targeted and questioned, because white people think they’re criminals.
If you read the newspapers or watch the news, African-Americans are getting stopped by cops because the cops think that they match the descriptions of other criminals that are black. Or when walking and going about their day, they have people follow them in stores or the mall because they think they’re going to steal something.
Being picked on and bullied in school, all these are just straight wrong. African-Americans shouldn’t have to be scared and feel like they’re not safe to go anywhere outside because they have to look over their shoulder to see if they’re going to die because a racist person wants to get rid of them. One thing is that you can’t just not notice it — it’s happening in plain sight.
It honestly makes me sick to my stomach the way people make others feel less worthy than they are. African-Americans are so amazing to me, the way they try not to let it bother them.
People kill themselves because they are fed up with it. I hate the suffering they got put through, and I feel like racist people just don’t give a damn about how they make that person feel and how they impact that person’s life.
I want people to realize the danger racism creates. We can change it and make a difference. We are all people. We should join together and change it, because it can make our society a better place. Because the rate we’re going right now is just so crazy and creates so much drama.
Na‘ia Ahuna-Balai
Hilo High student
Costly supplies
In the Feb. 11 Tribune-Herald, 11th-grader Sky Domingo wrote very sensibly about the expense of required school supplies, including clothing, that burden the less-than-affluent parents in this country.
I am astonished by the cost of books that are “required” to be purchased and are commonly published by Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who set the price.
I grew up in India where (as throughout the British Commonwealth) school children wear uniforms, the most common being khaki shorts and a white shirt, obviating the need to purchase fancier clothes on a regular basis. Nor did parents have to bear the cost of travel to far away places for children to participate in sports. Schools prioritize education over sport.
The government bears the entire cost of tuition in “public” schools and is free, providing equal opportunity to all. Of course, there is the private option for parents who can afford it.
Pradeepta Chowdhury
Hilo