Youth Opinion : For Every Hue And Accent, A Separate Compartment

Statistics paint UCLA’s University High School as the most demographically mixed in Los Angeles. But how much do its Latino, African American, Anglo and Asian American and Persian students really interact? KATHY SEAL visited the campus to ask the teens how much time they spend with classmates of the same versus different nationality.

VJERA KOVACEVIC, 17, senior

It’s natural being around people that are like you and have more things in common with you. The only reason why I would think it’s bad is because you don’t get to see, learn, and understand the others and you might grow to be close-minded and ignorant. That’s where all the racist problems come from, not understanding each other because of our differences.

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WENDY DE LA LUZ, 18, senior Your same nationality is not going to put you down when you say something stupid or when you do something right or wrong. Instead, they are going to help you out and teach you if you don’t know. Your same nationality is going to be there for you.

There are a lot of nationalities that do not get along because of the fact that you might be another color or some other detail. I think if we would all get along, we would make a better country. We have to respect each other for what we are, not for how we look: Give respect to receive respect.

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DARIO DICESARE, senior, 17 Most of the time, I hang out with people of my same nationality. I have fun with them, but I’d also enjoy knowing more people from other races. Unfortunately, it’s hard because today’s kids are racially segregated. People say they’re not racist, but they keep remaining closed-off to the different races. Whites, blacks, Mexicans, Asians, Persians all act superior to one another. I sometimes find it hard to speak to someone black--I’m Caucasian--without having either a black person or a white person look at me or think something bad.

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JAMES DUNN, 16, junior It is not a good idea to spend time overwhelmingly with people of your nationality. I know this is going to sound preachy, but in order to be able to appreciate all races--not just tolerate them--you need to spend time with them instead of developing the kind of racial tunnel vision seen every day at [this school].

It’s stupid to say you can deal with other races when you never interact with them. It’s easy to stick to your ethnicity in high school, but once you graduate it won’t be that way, and you will have problems. It doesn’t create blatant movie-style racism, but builds up subconscious prejudices.

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JOHN HEATH, 17, senior People shouldn’t concern themselves with pursuing relationships with people of different ethnicities for the sake of appearing as if they are open-minded or liberal. If they happen to associate with people who are of different cultural backgrounds, it should be because of the content of their character, not because the person wishes to prove he is not racist, because that, in itself, is an act of racism.

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CAROLYN KIM, 16, junior You are limiting yourself to experiences if you spend time overwhelmingly with people who are the same nationality as yourself.

In elementary school, I was the only Korean girl, therefore all my friends were white. I’m still good friends with them now, and our different ethnicity has taught us instead of creating differences.

To only accept friends from your own nationality is a form of ignorance and insecurity. I am one of the very lucky few who are experiencing life from more than one perspective.

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KELLIE CROSBY, 17, senior I think if someone wants to spend most of their time with their own nationality, that’s good. And it’s not a matter of racism, it’s just about wanting to be with your people. I have friends, a few, who are another nationality. But sometimes you just can’t relate to people of another race.

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BERNIE CRUZ, 17, senior I think we need a little of everything. You should spend time with your own culture so each of us knows where we come from. But don’t get so involved with your own race that you forget about everyone else’s. If you do do that, that’s when you become ignorant about other people to the point where you’re racist against their culture.

As for me, I hang around with different nationalities. But I wouldn’t marry out of my own.