My School (Self-Selected July: I)

So whenever I tell people who know anything about the school systems in Jackson that I'm teaching 11th and 12th grade English at Lanier High School, I get one of two reactions: 1) The "That's The Worst School In The History Of The World" Speech or 2) The "You Look So Young You're Kids Are Going To Have No Respect For Your" Speech. Apparently my school is in a not-so-good area.... there have been some shootings in the "Lanier High School" area lately. When I approached a fellow 1st year who knows about Jackson to get opinion, her words were something along the lines of "That's not out of the ordinary. When that stuff starts coming into the school itself, then you should be worried." At first, I was a little shocked. And scared. But the more I thought about it, I realized that there's no security anywhere. The kids at Columbine and Pearl River probably never felt scared or nervous going into their schools or the school's neighborhood (at least not because of the possibility of gunfire), but that didn't stop those events from occuring. And I've been in places like the Lanier area when I wasl in Birmingham several times, at night nonetheless, and not really been bothered. I think part of my anxiety was created by all these people who respond with the first of my previously mentioned responses. The latest was when I was actually in JPS getting a photo ID. The only white employee I'd seen the entire day asked me how old I was. When I told her, she replied, "You're going to get eaten alive." She then proceeded to inform me that Lanier was "99.9% black." But she whispered "black" as if it was a secret (one thing that's really been bothering me lately that I've noticed a lot from white people of all classes) and as if I had no idea what my school was like. She then progressed into how "all of JPS is black anyways," like there was no redeemable quality in any of the schools. My roomate, whose teaching at a middle school, was told by her that he's going to "the good school" because he may have "5 white kids." Perhaps the most amazing part of this encounter was that this was an employee in JPS. How can you work for the system that you think is inherently inferior? Why would you work there if you were prejudiced, choosing to surround yourself with black coworkers all day long? I just couldn't fathom it. I'm from the South and have seen blatant racism and prejudice firsthand, but I don't understand why someone that had those beliefs would willingly choose to be a part of the system they distrusted and condescended to. It made me mad that she was taking someone else's job who potentially wasn't jaded and had a lot of faith in the system. I assume her position is not unlike teachers I will meet in my school.