Southern California Public Schools

Growing up in La Jolla and going to public school caused me to be aware of racism at an early age. Most of the general population in La Jolla is white, affluent, upper middle class families. My father, being a passionate surfer, had the desire to live near the ocean causing us to rent from my grandparents. My Grandparent’s generosity made for living in La Jolla a tangible concept. Though we were not low income by any means, my family was not able to subscribe to the social norms of La Jolla. Being in a white upper middle class community most children go to private school. Public school is rarely considered for these kinds of families. Having a family that could not afford $40,000 a year for schooling, my family had me attend the local public school. Public schools are unable to exist with the local population attendance so students are bussed in from Southeast San Diego to make up the difference. Most students come from low-income families and single parents. Going to school with students bussed in from South East San Diego caused for a very diverse campus. Half the population was Hispanic students and the other half were white students from surfer families. I was one of the two white students for most of my classes through 6^th grade. Having such a mix of students I saw a lot of micro aggression coming from both the whites and the Hispanics.  Fights occurred frequently but mostly occurred within their own ethnicity. Racial comments did cause fights in middle school but diminished towards High School. Altercations between students were often gang affiliated and rarely contributed to local students. Gangs that consisted of whites rarely crossed paths. Most of the whites affiliated with gangs were young white females hired by local gang members in the beach community to sell their weed. Though fights between whites and Mexicans were rare, their segregation was still prevalent and visible between a number of Hispanics and Whites. It was wasn’t until my upper class years of high school that I noticed a major shift from segregation to becoming more of a unified community between both groups.