Racism in the Library

This week a group of Pacific Islander teen girls told me I was a "racist bitch" when I kicked them out of the library for misbehavior. Now teens have called me "racist" and teenage girls who I tell to leave love to throw the "b" word at me but I had never had the two words strung together before.

I have given some thought to why teens might call me, a white individual, racist when I discipline them. I have kicked out plenty of white people in my time. Even though the teens know the rules of the library they don't make the connection between their disruptive actions and the consequences. They simply see a white person punishing them, a person of color. Race supersedes all other factors in the situation.

Perhaps this is due to a process of over-generationalization/stereotyping of white people. They might have been mistreated before and they assume all white people are racist. The media or their families might be an influence.

I'm wondering how I can relate to these teens that I am not picking on them because they are of a different race. If they see that white teens are being kicked out too will that help? Perhaps if I explain more to them the rules and the consequences of those rules they will see that it is not a matter of race. However, if they are telling adult figures in authority that they are "racist bitches" it might already be too inbred in them.