Summertime has is and will always be a time of escape for teenagers everywhere. In and around Bristol, CT one of the most popular places to hang out with friends is Lake Compounce. The park features three roller coasters, a water park with numerous water slides and attractions, and free soda all day long. This 'family' oriented theme park has been my home away from home for the last two years. I know many of the people who work there and most of the people who go there I either know or recognize. But this year the park has done a major injustice to the teenagers going there.
Profiling is when a group of people are looked at in a stereotypical sense, normally in a bad way. For example if you see a young African American Teenager with a do-rag, saggy jeans, and a wife beater one might automatically say 'He's Ghetto, must listen to rap.' Extreme fundamentalists might even go further and say '*gasp* He must do drugs too, our children need to be protected...' blah blah blah. This is the real world folks. Just because someone wheres something or looks different doesn't make them evil, which brings me to why I'm writing.
Lake Compounce is unfairly profiling and treating kids who are 'Gothic' so to speak. ie....black clothing, baggy pants with straps, big band t-shirts, dyed hair etc... I normally being apart of that 'Crowd' have also been profiled and treated unfairly. Here are a few examples.
I was spending the day at The Lake with a few of my friends. Four of us were wearing 'gothic' clothing, the two others looked 'normal' as one of my friends put it. We stopped to think about what we wanted to go on next and I put my arms around my boyfriends waste and then stuck my thumbs into his pockets and leaned up against him. As we talked the 'normal' looking two started making out right in the middle of the park when a security guard walked up. This bozo security guard walked right pass the two making out up to our 'gothic' group and said that having my thumbs in his pockets was inappropriate behavior and if she caught us again we would be asked to leave the park and give up our season passes. This upset the rest of us so I decided I was going to run a little test so to speak on the park.
The next day I walked in, once again in 'gothic' clothing, my 'bondage pants', baggy T-shirt, black make-up, enough to attract a little attention. I took notice to how the guards were positioned through the day. It also proved my theory that the 'gothic kids' were getting treated badly. If there were around four or less 'goth' kids in one area there was one guard positioned watching the area. If there was more than four then there was two guards either right next to each other or no more than fifty feet apart. Heaven help them if there was a big group of eight or twelve. All of a sudden the guards would actually start following the group until they were in the vicinity of another guard!
The next day I walked in looking 'punk' as some would say. I had on baggy guys short from Wal*Mart, and a T-shirt. I also wore 'emo' sun glasses which made the effect differ from the 'gothic' look. The guards, still at their routines with the 'goth kids' barely took notice to me. A few even smiled at me! The next time I came back, just yesterday, I wore a pair of hip huggers and a tank top. I was smiled at, complemented, and even asked 'How are you today?' It was better treatment that I have ever gotten before. I was ready to put my thesis into an editorial about profiling when I heard even worse news.
A group of 'preppy' kids whom I have actually run into before were making cruel comments about 'goth' kids. When I ran into them before they were talking about how the 'goth' kids might eat them and when they saw my boyfriend and I they yelled 'More goth kids, they might shoot us!' I let it go and walked away knowing if they met the wrong one of us they would get what they deserved. Apparently last week they ran into my friend Jayme and said some cruel things and he told them off. Instead of fighting back they went to a security guard and made up a fabricated story about how he tried starting a fight with them, spit on them, swore at them and took off. The guards tracked him down, kicked him out of the park, and took away his season pass without refund because the 'normal' kids were lying. Friends who were eye-witnesses claim he didn't do anything but the guards refused to listen to anyone wearing black claiming that we were all just hooligans trying to get our friend of the trouble he put himself into.
We are all honestly good kids. Most of us don't drink or smoke, and the ones that do get better grades then some of the bozos at my school which is supposed to be for honors and gifted students! We don't set things on fire, we are not satanists, actually most of us are good church going Christians. Even the few that aren't accept every religion and don't care about what you have faith in. We help each other like good friends should, we are there for each other, and we accept each other. The only people who seem to have a problem are the ones who think they are better than everyone else, or the ones who automatically stereotype us as being drug addicted Satan worshipers with lousy grades and no respect for society. Funny how most of us are straight edge straight A students with many leadership rolls in the community and schools.
It is too late for most of us to stop going to the park like we want to. Our passes have been paid for and there is no use giving them up because the park has our money, plus who wouldn't want a free water park and soda? For the rest of the year we are starting a movement called the 'Free Jayme Movement' after Jay who was unfairly profiled and kicked out of the park for being 'Gothic'. Next year most of us will not be getting season passes if the park does not clean up its act. We refuse to waste our money on a place where we are not accepted and where we are treated unfairly! I am asking anyone who reads this, no matter what 'Group' you are in to put a link to this column in your profiles, away messages, on your websites, where ever and join us in our anti-profiling movement. Next year it could be your group of friends profiled unfairly, or maybe you already have been. Please help us spread the word about how wrong profiling is.
FREE JAYME!
*UPDATE*
In keeping with the tone of my research I have still been taking notice to some of the things going around the park. The Security people seem to be spreading out more which more than likely has nothing to do with us but is in fact a good sign.
Also some of the workers there have made some comments that I find inconsiderate. One such comment appeared yesterday to a group of us on the swings. We were a group of 'goth' kids of about a dozen or so taking up the whole green section of chairs. We all sat their waiting for the ride to start as the operator read the rules. His quote: 'No rocking the chairs, that means you green section.' No one that I could see was rocking the chairs and the ones behind me who I didn't get a glimpse of were behind the pole. To his point of view I guess we might have been but it looked like we were all just a little shaky from hanging in the air.
It seems my friends Amanda wants to start passing out flyer's and such which I think is a great idea but everyone should remember anti-profiling is not the same as anti-authority, no matter how close it may seem. Which means the idea of not profiling anyone needs to spread peacefully and not by force.
Also My friend Mark is making bracelets for some people for the 'movement'. The bracelet consists of a simple braid showing we are all simply connected together, two regular hemp strings symbolizing society and how society wants us to be, and one black hemp strand symbolizing being original and different and not being afraid to be yourself. Which I think is a big problem with profiling. If your friends think its weird or stupid don't you sometimes think its weird or stupid? If your friends all hate rock music, don't you sometimes pick and choose the music you talk about around them?
Thanks to everyone who supports this cause. Remember just posting links helps!
This is the real world folks. Just because someone wheres somethign or looks different doesn't make them evil,
Included in the list
Add a comment
Comments
1 - 78 of 78
-
I <3 you.. I need my LC pass.. If you don't get a job, you're going w/ me all the time.
Yeah, this has nothing to do with the column...
I still like the column, though...
And it's 100% true, expecially since I was there. -
thanks so much, feel free to use it, i would really apreciate it! best of luck on your paper!
-
brilliant
hey im doing an experiment like that which is similar here in my home town. i have to write a persuasive paper trying to get people to, if not be unprejudice alltogether, then to at least e more open minded about the "gothic" community and other diferent people in general. do you mind if i use your column in my paper? -
thanks =)
-
You guys that's groovy goth may it continue and your cause be just
-
This is so true. At my school, I am in the civil rights group, a group against teen alcohol drinking, and a writing group. I make fairly good grades, respect my teachers, and try to help anyone who needs it. Apparently, however, my being 'goth' is my bad spot. After, and during school, any thing that anyone else does is overlooked, yet my group of friends are patronized by students and teachers alike. After school, we get kicked out and sent home while so many others hang around for hours. A friend of mine was being threatened by someone else. When my friend told them, ultimately, to screw off, she got a day of suspension. When all of us told the prinicpal about what really happened, the girl that threatened my friend got a detention. THAT'S ALL. They never even apologized. This is happening all the time with us, and we've taken it to several teachers who are helping us try tog et through to higher power that this is happening to us. I like to see that you are starting something to help your case. It needs to get known that things like this are going on. Last week, my best friend was pushed down a staircase during school for who she is. I get things thrown at me. My other friend was sitting in the hall sewing his pants, and was accused of practicing 'gothic antics.' We walk down the halls, and people scream: look at those pants. jingle jingle! It isn't right, and it needs to stop. Good for you for speaking out.
-
Final.
I support this cause, but don't you think this a bit too much to ask for? I mean, human beings are pretty much always prejudice against something (Notice the two words before 'always'). It's just the way the human mind works; some people are raised one way, some people another, and that causes them to just about always harbor some kind of hatred for those different than them in the back of their minds. But then again, I'm not a very social person, and I'm only drawing this from experience in three small communities, so yeah... -
yea I'm from connecticut. Not everyone up here is rich but no one up here is really starving either, you know? Even the kids from "the projects" have houses that are more expensive than some other states. A lot of people up here are snooty about money and stuff though, they can afford brand name clothes and have allowances that let them buy a new woredrobe ever week and it gets to their heads. I love going down south or to other states where it's more relaxed and they get to know you before judging you type of thing. Sure every place has good and bad but it seems New England needs to get out more lol. I saved all my money for the last 3 years and was able to go on a discounted trip to France with my school, and the "snooty" french people that everyone over here complains about, most of them were even nicer than the kids I go to school with. I don't know I think we just all need to focus more on others than ourselves. lol hows the comercial "I'de like to teach the world to chill, take time to stop and smile..." I wish
-
no, you don't, it just said connecticut. that's weird. maybe it's all the rich martha's-vineyard types (like my grandfather, lol) up in new england. idk. but i think you're tre cool. yes, like the drummer from green day.
-
that last bit is kinda weird, cuz with me, and a lot of the people i know, they're if anything more likely to talk to and be friends with a goth than they are with a preppy kid. i like both, but i have to say goths are just cooler. hehe. do you live in the South?
-
Thats a really good argument (kudos for playing devil's advocate). Maybe if we changed fashions, lets say we went for more of a "preppy" fashion, we could totaly get rid of all the satanist idea's and stuff. We could be home free...couldn't we? Think about it though, gothic fashion maybe looked at as "troublesome" or "rebelious" but in my experience the "troubled behavior" and arrogent attitude come from the jerks who shop at ambicrombie and aeropostal. The ones who blame everything on the "gothic fashions". Once again not to say all of them are like that, I have some great friends who are "preppy" but are great people. Which is the real point i think i wanted to emphisise in the essay, No one is made different by the clothes they wear. In order to know a person you must get to know them, not judge them on their clothing. There are days I'm at school in my school uniform and the whole school will talk to me. Others, when I wear my "gothic" clothing that no one will speak to me and they will give me dirty looks. You're still the same person, no matter what you wear, people need to understand that.
Anyway great comment, thanks for dropping your 2 cents, I apreciate it! -
alex char
i don't honestly have a real opinion here, but i have an almost irresistible compulsion to play Devil's Advocate, especially against liberal young people (of which i am one, how's that for strange psychology?). so:
the argument against you (or one of them) is that by using gothic fashion, you are allying yrself with those who are more extreme than you, ie satanists and the sort of hazy group of people who strike out at society for no reason. they can say that you can just as easily wear other clothes, and not associate yrself with those types. me personally, i find gothic fashion incredibly sexy & awesome, but this might be, subconsciously, because i find that anti-everything attitude attractive, and am just not ready to admit it to myself. then again, it may not. but i'm just giving you a heads-up of one of the possible counterarguments. cheers. -
You are totaly right! A lot of kids get their whole "group" so to speak in trouble because they act stupid or make a mistake. When the rest of us get punished for it that's what's wrong. It's human nature to group everyone in with everyone else they hang around with and a lot of the times it's bad because a person could be nothing like a trouble maker. Guilt by assosiation sucks! Thanks for the comment!
-
Good
As an Honors student in NC, I see that happen all the time. A lot of my friends would be considered "goths" because of their clothing or looks. However, most of them are nicer than the preppy people I know. It's the few who act up who give everyone else a bad name, and I wish that I could stop that. -
Thanks for the comment, you're right it probably would be stronger, I hope to update this son a lot has been going on at the lake and I would be glad to read your poems and comment, I shall do that asap!
-
good topic
This is cool. I like it. although it might strengthen your argument if you didn't call the men's sleevless and low-neck tops "wife beaters". it makes you look like you are "profiling" yourself. and there's one spot where you put "wheres" instead of "wears".
Would you consider reading my poems,
"Ok, I Confess"
and
"Uniforms"
and let me know what you think?
Thanks,
shadowwwolf -
yea that sucks, im sorry to hear u cant evn do that
-
yes i get this to i live in hillsboro andd we have a thing called a colony we cant wear the 9punk braclets or anythigng its a threat just because we look like we are gonna kill somebody dont mean that we actually will it 9pisses me off!!!
-
i actualy havn't yet, i planned on writting a letter about it and inclosing the column. Just by chance do you know a kid named mark because I have a friend named mark in New Fairfeild who i met when his school came to LC last fall for the graveyard so I was just wondering if you were in that bunch. If you were I would laugh because I was there that night hehe
-
thanks so much!
-
thank you!
-
excellent
Hey whatever you written here i am completely with you>>>>>>>
It is well written by you....
you will going to get a good no of points <<<<<<<
so thakx for sharing such a wonderful thoughts...
bye LOL -
Nice Article; It is so awesome and you convey emotion very well. Keep on being so creative and good luck with life!!!
-
Very well written and enlightening column. Did you send it to Lake Compounce? Perhaps there is someone in charge that does not know what's going on and is honest and well meaning. I live in New Fairfield and have taken school trips there. This shouldn't be happening and I commend you for bringing this to everyone's attention.
from Joanne
-
It's too bad that people hold all kinds of stereotypes about people, especially based solely on appearance or age.
-
sadly true
I totally know what you are talking about. its ridulous how much people like condemn or make false accusations and opinions about people before they even give them a chance. most people i know like completly form opinins about goth people or punks before they even say one word to them. you did a good job summing things up. awesome write...ill spread the word -
yea I totaly understand, I said somethign in class one day and this jerk in my class turend aroudn and was like "Shut up go kill yourself"... just makes feel all good inside dont it? *rolls eyes* thanks for the comment, btw i think its awesome ur a gs, i am too!
-
This a colum I can all to well go with. I'm what some may call a punk. As my wardope contains mainly men's hoodies about a size to big an bagy jeans along with I'm usualy pritty quite and not to social, majorty of the words I speak are sarcasim. Once I had to work with a cheerleader and a girl in my GS troop in science class. When the cheerleader said she was lost I told her I understood and her reply was 'Great the only who gets this is the homicidal assassin.' Realy nice of her.
I'm use to being picked on for being differant as I've had it since I was in elementry school but your right it shouldn't happen but it does. To be nieve is rare but ignorance is painfuly common. Fight it. Continue to spread your voice, keep writting.
Ash Twilight
-
yea, its happening everywhere to everyone, someone i know said her cousin and his friends were actualy follwer by security guards around WAL*MART! WAL*MART of all places, the cool store among cool stores lol. Him and his friends are into what we consider the "Ghetto" sceen, you know, dress to look like the cool rappers and such...but yea he and hsi friends were followed aroudn wal*mart, another girl posted her and her friends were followed around Target! Your coffee shop, amusements parks... it really is a big deal and i hope people realize what they are doing is stupid. If you are workign on wall street when you are dealing with other countrys and you need to look "professional" sure I can see that, i mean is Germany or China going to talk business with someone who wears a lot of make up or osmeone who is totaly sloppy, no, but its totaly different if you're just chillin, tryign to relax maybe have some coffeee listen to some cool music, and they trea tyou like they have never seen a human being before. But hey its not like other countrys don't have this going on either, the whole "gtohic" music sceen and the like was from Great Britian, while in Paris I saw French "Goths" too, just like people here in america, the difference is the French people were in their older twenties or sure looked it, here in America it seems to be a catchy phase teens go through just to rebel fro m their parents... but then the parents just blame everythign they do on the music, friends and the like instead of where the blame truly lies, on themselves AND their kids (not always the parents after all though in some cases it is) and so the teens rebel more... maybe if people stopped looking at the way people dressed and didtheir hair and make up and stuff and focused on the true person then we wouldnt have as much rebellion, we wouldnt have cops following us through our faveorite places. Thats why I posted this whole column after all, mabye if people read they wont be so nieve.
-
I completely understand what your talking about here. Every weekend a group of my friends I guess you can call us 'goth' all go to the local coffee shop and chil while listening to some people sing and just try to have someone social to hang out at without causing any trouble...the only bad thing is, is now everytime we walk in there the workers and owners look at us with pure hate. When one of us orders something to drink it takes them at least fifteen min. to get it to use when all they have to do is poor it into a cup. It's so ugly. They've started to call the cops to come and hang out around the shop because they are scared of one of us causing trouble, the way we know that is one of us brothers is a cop and he told us. It's rude. It's like they expect us to be trouble makers or worship the devil or some shit. I hate it. So yeah I know what you mean. If I were you I would write a letter to the owner or head guy and tell them what's going on. We tried to do it to the coffee shop but it didn't work. We are actually thinking about sueing them for discrimination (spelling?) because that's what they are doing. GOod job with testing your threorys though! It was a good idea! I hope everthing works out!
Casey -
thanks! much apreciated
-
You make great points in this write. It is true profiling happens everywhere. It is outrageous that security came up to you in the park for thumbs in your boyfriends pocket and not the obsence making out couple. I found this written so very well. Great job with your write. It was excellent and done so nicely. thank you for sharing it.
-
The security guards do that to every one trust me. So don't think just because ur goth they're following u or treating u unfairly because Im what sum ppl wood call "normal" nd almost the same thing happened to my friend. And personally I think ur blowing this all a little outta proportion.
xox
-
sweet, thanks a lot!
-
man I hear you completley i dont live far from you guys i live in watertown, Ct and we here completley understand you guys can still fight back and win believe me
-
WELL SAID!!!!!!!!!!!!
-
yea, you're right. We have so many ways in this world to stereotype and most of us do, I myself included tend to but I try not to speak it. You need to know a person by the content of their charachter not by their skin color, religious beliefs, let alone the clothes they wear. I think its funny how through out history there have always been groups seeking to be different and equal at the same time, what we refer to as the "hippies" for example are one group who society could not tolerate. Some of them did things like get high and all of a sudden they all are? My mom was a so called "Hippie" and never smoked pot, she was just like me, someone who wanted change and she protested. What amuses me though is all these people who rebeled from society all these people who tried to change society by proclaiming "give peace a chance" (which is probably another stereotype) and tried to fight the system sit in corperate america and are parents and co-workers, and nota one of them would ever find it in their hearts to hire someone dressed like they use to dress, saying the same things they use to say. I hope the teenage population now realizes and remembers whats happening now and can learn from it in the future. I hope they still practice what they preach...
~Deen -
You are compleatly right, employers and schools for that matter judge you by the way you dress, I know first hand going to a private school we really arn't allowed to wear what we want...and whatever we do wear they have to o.k. or we get sent home to change. Nothing we can really do about it. I do love the way I dress...which is normaly jeans and a t-shirt though, I don't do it for attention, almost none of us do which i think proves the whole point of the column. Thanks for your imput! If you have others who believe the way you do tell them to read and post also this way we have divercity among the comments.
-
While it's stupid for people to stereo type- you dress the way you do because you like it, and you dress the way you do, "gothic", to get attention. You got it. In the real world, employers judge you by the way you dress, act, speak. Welcome to the real world- it's not fair- but that's the way it is.
-
It's pretty stupid how people stereotype all of these things about someone; when all in actuallity they don't even know them. Just by looking at some one, how does the other actually know ANYTHING about them? They don't...I wish people would just get to know someone before judging them, and just because one person of a "stereotypical group" does something wrong doesn't mean all are bad...Just like all the Arabs terrorizing all of these places....It doesn't mean just cuz one Arab has very low morals and standards of what living should be like, and how fairly to treat their country...or other people doesn't act right....doesn't mean all of them are like that...It upsets me just to even think about how much people stereotype other when they really know nothing of them. I really enjoyed reading this....Maybe you should print this out and nail it to poles around this place...I wouldn't go there either if I was treated unfair but there just has to be something you can do about it...Thanks for sharing this.....
Alecia
Edited on Jul 13, 7:20 p.m. because ''. -
oh I could, my parents have some on me, its amazing how stubborn some people can be abotu what they think. I guess we all are though.
-
i know how that goes. stereotypes. you wouldn't believe some of the ones my parents have against my friends.
-
Thank yo uso much. We can use all the help we can get on this!
-
I don't fit it a lot of the time either. I can't in school because I go to a private school and have a dress code, I have track where I can't exactly run in in pants... stuff like that. I hope one day people will come to realize how stupid all this hate is!
-
well if she printed them out u might wanna switch rent-a-cop to "security person" lol or something
-
hello nadine,
i think we should start some sort of pettition....im trying to help you get as many people to see this as possible, amandas mom printed out billions of copies so im just gunna go around and pass them out (maybe even at l.c.) o well they piss me off...and im trying to get u some names off myspace, but idk how well that will end up
good luck with this nadine, i totally see what you mean by this
<3 alysha -
Amen!!! Thank you soooooo much!!!
Yes, not all of us who are or dress Goth fit into the stereotype...in fact, none of my Goth friends do, and neither do I.
You are so right that the word needs to be spread about profiling, and why it is wrong.
I wish we all lived in a world where profiling and judging was completely unknown, but I guess since we don't, we must just do our best to make it become obsolete.
Love and light,
Jenna -
An excellent column and well done experiment in social issues... I think a lot of profiling goes on everywhere. It doesn't even stop at humans! Animals (certain pets) get profiled too. It's steretyping, plain and simple! Prejudice too! Just slapping a less offensive and more vague label on it doesn't change it!
Thank you for writing this wonderful piece and I'd like to let you know that not only am I applauding this but I am bookmarking it in a collection on my author's page. -
thanks so much. At the moment my friend is making bracelets to give to ppl over here to wear as a protest and a few others are even making their own T-shirts. It may seem small and this may not go anywhere but I hope it at least shows people that everyone is different and yet at the same time the same as everyone else. We are ALL human beings and we all have ideas, feelings, thoughts... no one is so different that they arn't human! Just because someone dresses differnt or listens to different music doesn't make them wrong.
-
Wow, this is a wonderful article. ^^ I agree, anyone wearing a good deal of black is stereotyped, and I hate it...My parents even stereotype me, and at school one kid who wears a lot of black (I hadn't even noticed, until his friends called attention to it) is called gothic, even though he protests it, and he's very cool. I stereotype myself sometimes, but I only take interest in people, I wouldn't stalk
or hold prejudices against them. Some people I know even go as far to unfairly treat people who clearly almost never wear black, but hang around with those who do...I've even watched some of my friends laugh and made jokes at one of the Gothic girls in my school, just because the rest of everybody does that. The whole thing is sickening.
Good luck with your Free Jayme Movement, and once again this was a wonderful article!
I'll definitely put this up on my author's page and stuff for you.
~ Lady ~ -
hey u, long time no talk... yea aparently thats wut happened thats coming from this girl mandy (shes pretty cool) and jay. it sucks, we need to go sometime hehe
-
that sucks, something needs to be done about stuff like this!
-
good point, thanks for the comment chris!
-
deen i was just wondering what happened with jayme and getting his pass taken away. now that i know im pissed with lake compounce. i see them profile like that all the time and it pisses me off. they acually wouldnt let me on a ride the other day cuz i wasnt appropraitly dresssed but when i told my friend canaan who works that ride and she said i was dressed fine. it was obvious that it was my black shirt blakc eyes and studded belt... pathetic
-
I know how this crap goes! My best friends and I had trouble at the local skating rink cause we looked so "gothic"... Which I didn't but they anyway! My bff Jenifer was hit in the face was a skate because she was "gothic" and the dj had watched the event and said it was her fault... (Which Donny, the dj was he uncle and didn't like her) so she got banned from Skateland... Just because of her clothing and make up choices!
-
I was there and saw the whole thing with Jayme, Matt, and Louis getting their passes taken away. Although, Me, Billy, and Zack were stopped later for questioning, because we were "witnesses", and they were actually friendly. So, they can't be all bad.
-Chris -
thanks chrissy... haha i love the end... considering... hehe
-Deen -
good points great job!
Great job Nadine... i havent noticed it but i'll keep my eyes open next time... it is good and you should send it to the Press or something to see what you can do about it.... people are stupid just dont let them get to you and do your own thing... eventually it should all work out... great job again... ~*CJ call sometime and we'll do something doesnt have to be LC tho... considering... -
i am definetly going to do that and send somethign into a news paper. thanks for the support!
-
Good for you for bringing this to our attention. You could always submit something like this to your local news paper anonymously, saying that you have noticed the treatment of such kids and tell the story of how you dressed differently and were recieved differently. I see this sort of thing all the time, and it's so pointless. Even among people at different stores I shop at all the time treat me different if I come in wearing "Goth" clothes. I'll definitly put this on my page and pass it along to others.
-
But that doesn't make sense, people have been doing drugs and illegal things for thousands of years. Hell, the chinese have been smoking opium since before 300 B.C. and who knows how long absinthe has been around. Sure they all remember the 60s and the 80s, they just forgot how much pot they smoked and how much acid they dropped.
-
thanks, me too
-
compleatly true. A lot of the people in charge now also remember what it was like durring the 60's through the 80's where people were getting into a lot of trouble that kids are now thought of as doing, ie. drugs,, illigal things, stuff like that make people parinoid.
-
That's funny. I actually understand why the guards could be scared, although I'm goth myself. When people don't dress like the "normals" do, it means they're sort of unconventional. It means they have a rebelious streak. People are always scared of that. They find those who don't fit the mold are unpredictable. Also, many people can't get away from the goth stereotype just because there really are many goths who are assholes and give a bad name to everyone else. People should just remember it might be a big percent of people but there's no need to generalize. Also, as long as you dress different, you'll always attract attention. Sometimes positive. Mostly not.
-
I will put a link to this on my author page. This profiling BS has to stop sometime! What a person looks like, how a person dresses, what a person believes, should NOT make ANY difference in the way that person is treated. Thank you for posting this. Hope it makes a difference in the world!
~Tawnya~ -
I know how it is. People are so judging these days. People need to get over it and look out side the "box". well i totally agree with what you guys are going to do and i will post the link.
-
Ugh, my site's being stupid!!! Ok, I promise to put it on my OTHER site(s) and on my away message.
-
I know EXACTLY what you mean. I dress, as my sister puts it, 'preppy' (though, let me make it clear, I am NOT a 'prep'... I'm actually a JROTC nerd ), and my sister dresses like a 'goth'. Our own father tells her every time that we go to his house that he wants her out of her black clothes because she looks like a "hoodlum."
My own father!
I'll seriously put a link to this on my site and my away message!
Kate
-
I totally agree with you, I used to live in Ridgefield, CT, and we went to Lake Compounce quite a bit. I've seen the way they treat kids there, and it is completely unfair the way they stereotype kids based on what they wear. Go you!
-
Great poem...Same here...I've been put in one of those "CROWDS"... But when I look at it, everyone in the world is different. So I just learned to live with it... Even my mom puts me in one of those "CROWDS", except she judges me by the friends I have...
-
go nads! im totally agreeing on this one thats so not fair and i know about the security guards, not that im 'gothic ' oranything i can get loud and rowdy (ecspecially with guys around) lol you know how i am! put yeah im agreeeing with you its in my profile right this moment great job *Korie
-
Holy ****
Oh my f'ing Goddess! Thatg is so stupid. Great job writing this. I love you Na. and I'll support everything, even if I never really knew or liked Jay too much. ~Crystal -
Great
man do i know how it feels...i like my friend jen (forgotten shadow) dress in kinda "goth" clothing...its really not that bad i mean i wear a swearshirt thats red and has dragons on it in the winter and the "punk" look durring the summer with baggy guy shorts and baggy t shirts...teachers at my school profile and its really funny cause i like to prove them worng cause they think that im probly one of those low kids that make bad grades and smoke...but i acctually work really hard to get good grades and i answer a lot of questions in class and earlier the 2nd semester i dyed my hair black cause i had put hilights in (mom messed up pulled to much hair through the hat thingy and hair was like blonde) and i got tired of blonde jokes plus i have really dark eyebrows so i dyed it black and a lot of people thought it was cool...i personally liked it...but i think it made some of my teachers think of me diffrently...but hey im a good christain go to church almost every sunday i go to wensday night things and anything i possibly can at church and i have good friends its sooooo annoying when people profile!
well anyway great collum!!!! -
I AM ALL FOR IT! I do not know you, but I do know that this is wrong. Being "gothic" myself, I know the abuse that is suffered at the hand of people like that. Of course... I am a satanist, but oh well. I still get good grades, am in honors classes, and I am starting an Anti-Descrimination Club at my school to stop the bullshit that goes on. If I am not mistaken, what they are doing is also unconstitutional. I think that if this does not stop, you should send this into your local editorial or paper. Profiling is WRONG. It really is. The descrimination you are suffering is just so totally injust that I feel like coming down to CT and showing them the TRUE darkside. If they think that it's bad because of how you dress, well, they'd really be in for a shocker. People honestly don't understand what INDIVIDUAL means. If we're all the same, no one would have any fun any more. I will be posting this everywhere, with credit to you, of course, and it will be seen. This is going in the bookmarks, and everywhere else I can put it. Gaurunteed! Best of luck with your campaign, and your friend. My suggestion- start a petition and get as many people as possible to sign it, including adults around the area. Hand out this speach you have written, and share it with them as well. Word will spread and a good thing will probably happen. If it doesn't, well, then we know at least where the problems lie.
~Saknika -
Stunning
This was amazing. I have felt this way for sometime now. I too have been unfairly profiled for wearing the "goth" look. But the fact is, I'm a simple, quiet hard working girl. Don't smoke, drink, or do drugs. Go to church, am a strong beleiver in God. And yet, if I venture somewhere dressed in a "goth" outfit...I'm suddenly a druggie, high school drop out. And lord knows I wouldn't dare venture to my old church. (apparently I work for the devil ) But I do have to laugh at the pathetic children at school. Who think because I dress the way I do, I could never write good poems or stories.
I agree with what you plan to do next summer. Screw them. Maybe this will inspire others to do the same and then they will realize how much money they are losing. Thanks for sheding some light on this subject.
Oh, and did you know Target actually has over 10 security guards? Its true. Go venture in one with a group of 6 or so and see how many come out. Its quite astonishing. Wonder where they keep them the rest of the time.
Jenn
-
I love this it is soooo true. It happened to me at Six Flags Great America. Really, really annoying. Seriously they do follow you around no joke. It makes me mad, not only that my Mother profiles me, thinking that the way I dress makes me an automatic druggie, not true. I'm not the best at school but I have a learning disability...it's called VERY UNORGANIZED even my therapist said that's my problem lol, it's something I just can't do. Anyways I will surely put that link up on my page and on my MySpace!!
♥ ellie -
thanks!
-
clap clap clap I would applaud you on this one but i have no more applauds today...good job though and keep up the good work
Adding your comment:
1 - 78 of 78
