Racism on Campus - What Post-Racial America?

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http://counterpunch.com/huerta04022010.html


Racism is alive and well at American universities and beyond. The racist incidents in the past few weeks throughout the University of California system and country refute the simplistic notion that we live in a post-racial society, as often referred to by the election of the first African American president.

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The racist acts at UC San Diego (UCSD) against African Americans include a campus fraternity party called “Compton Cookout,” a campus television program using racial slurs, the hanging of a noose on a lamp fixture in a library and KKK-like hood placed on statue outside the main library. While the organizers of the so-called “Compton Cookout” encouraged attendees to dress up in so-called “ghetto” attire, including XXXL T-Shirts, fake gold teeth and cheap clothes, the food to be served included fried chicken and watermelon.

Although many community leaders, students and UCSD officials have condemned these insidious acts, we should not be surprised that such racially intolerant and hateful actions exist on a campus where African Americans students represent a meager 2% of all undergrads. Apart from this campus, hate crimes have occurred on other UC campuses, such as graffiti of a noose on a bathroom door at UC Santa Cruz and carved swastika on the door of a Jewish student at UC Davis.

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If we consider the case of higher education, instead of outlawing affirmative action programs in California and other states, we need to re-instate and expand these programs now more than ever to address the historical and structural inequalities that remain rooted throughout this country. While UCLA and UC Berkeley have take positive steps in implementing a comprehensive review approach toward undergraduate admissions, the current ban against affirmative action limits the amount of underrepresented minorities at the best public universities in the world.

Moreover, it’s not enough to have Brad and Jane take a required class on Chicano or African American history at the university to make them more sensitive to diverse cultures. We need more racial and class diversity in higher education to reflect the interests of racial minorities and working class individuals from the inner-cities and rural communities.

Until people commit themselves to systemic and progressive change in this country, university students, conservative cable-hosts and average Americans will continue to resort to the policies and practices of the Jim Crow era when racial segregation and discrimination ruled the day.
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agree

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Disagree

[smoogatz]

4. With what?

[knitter4democracy]

2. I went to an almost entirely white college. The racism there was insane.

Worse, I often ended up having to explain to the perpetrators just how racist their behavior was. They just didn't get it.

If you don't have people mixing in their learning environment, it's hard for them to learn about the diversity that exists in today's world.

[old mark]

3. Racism is as bad today as it ever was, just camoflaged behind

fictions that it does not exist. Both economic and social racism flourish in the US, and to be fair, everywhere else on earth there are human beings.

mark

[madmom]

5. A friend's kid goes to a small tech college in southern Ohio. They closed down for a week last

quarter because of racial messages found on bathroom wall.

[Bradical79]

6. so many racists still...

At university I have yet to go to a bathroom without racist messages written on the stalls. Also have heard my fair share of comments starting with "I'm not a racist, BUT... " :eyes: