Central's Foreign Exchange Students Discuss Race Relations

By David Pitts
USIA Staff Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., (Sept. 25) A group of foreign exchange students at Central High School has said that race relations there are good, but there is not as much mixing between black and white students as they would like.

The mostly European students, interviewed September 24, a day before President Clinton came to the school to meet the "Little Rock Nine" and to deliver a speech honoring the 40th anniversary of its desegregation, all said they enjoyed being at Central and are gaining much from the experience.

Elisa Bocca, a senior from Italy, said "I have made many black friends here. It is easy to do. I think race relations are quite good."

"I think people our age are more comfortable with people of different races than perhaps older people are," said Charlotte Ekdahl, a senior from Sweden.

Hetran Perenz, a senior from Venezuela, said it is important not to misinterpret the fact that black and white students don't mix as much with each other as they do among their own race. "I've observed that there are differences in culture between blacks and whites here," he remarked. "Sometimes the behavior is different. It's a question of what people are comfortable with."

"I enjoy the two cultures," said Nina Schielen, a junior from Germany. "I have learned two cultures since I have been here -- black and white," she added.

Asked their view of the Little Rock Nine's integration of Central High 40 years ago, all the students expressed admiration for what they did. "I think they were very brave," said Perenz. "There was a lot of discrimination then and they were only nine people."

"We have to thank the 'Little Rock Nine' for the fact that blacks and whites are going to school with each other today," said Bocca. "It took a lot of courage to do what they did."

Marina Belie, from Russia, wanted it known that she was enjoying her time at Central High and especially meeting black people for the first time.

Currently, 14 foreign exchange students attend Central High. The rest of the student body is 59 percent black, 40 percent white, and one percent other, mostly Asian.