The Three R's

I thought the text was highly revealing about what the desegregation years must have been like for minority individuals, particularly students. I also had no idea that Greensboro has such a vivid history during this time period. I did the bus ride before reading and frankly the experience did not affect what I got from the text at all. It seemed to me like they were unrelated. While the connection with desegregation and public transportation is undeniable, the connection between then and the present day experience of riding the bus is questionable to me. Much of what went on then still happens, though not in the organized way it was in the past. For example, People naturally separate themselves out based on race and gender. Look around the Caf and you can notice that mostly people sit with others of the same race. A&T is still a predominantly African American school, and UNCG is still predominantly female. Some things have not changed but then again nobody is forcing minority students to sit with others like them when they eat or ride the bus in this case.

I did have a very interesting conversation with the guy I sat next to and the driver. The man I was with taught me how to speak ghetto, which was the riot of the whole bus "yo man wat da binnes is?" The driver got a good laugh from that one. I think it's funny to note that everyone was worried about the people they would meet on the bus. Yet the first thing the man next to me asked when I sat down was if I had a "nine" in my bag. It seems that everyone was frosty on the bus, all on the lookout for what other people were doing.

It was funny to see how out of place we all were on the bus. Nobody knew how to act or to pull the cord to get the bus driver to stop for example. It's strange how there exist several layers of the same world right under our noses that we never experience in our daily routine.

I did not really learn anything new on this bus ride, but the text was interesting, even for the late hour that I read it.