Recently in Racism Category

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100428/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1831

 

I just got through reading this little slice of heaven and it is infuriating. Republican Tim James, who is in the gubernatorial race in Alabama appears in a campaign add where he promises to give the state's driver's license exam in English only. His reason?: it will be a cost-saving measure...um, ok? I fail to comprehend how getting rid of the existing non-English versions of the exam will cut costs. He goes on to say: "This is Alabama, we speak English. If you want to live here, learn it".

This topic always gets my blood boiling. I have been all over Mexico and I have yet to see an American make an attempt at speaking Spanish. Also, whenever people do make an effort at speaking English here in the U.S., they get discriminated against because they'll speak it with an accent. This happened to my mom the first time we went to Chicago in 2003. We were in an elevator at the Sears Tower and some people were being rude. My mom made a comment about it in English so that the men would understand, and I see an employee of the building give my mom a dirty look and rolled his eyes...My claws came out at that point. I said, "You got a problem there cheif?"...he denied he had a problem..."So why are you rolling your eyes? You think every Mexican that comes here doesn't understand English or speaks with a heavy accent? Are you that ignorant?" ...he profusely apologized and said I was right in calling him an ignorant moron. I doubt he was sincere but it gave me great pleasure to call him out in front of a large group of people. I've seen this type of crap all the time.

Not only do people have to speak English while they're here but they also have to speak it without an accent as well. Otherwise they're some kind of simpleton who don't know anything.

This proves the point I was trying to make yesterday in class while discussing Cassie's book Black Like Me. Although people are a little more open minded than what they once were, there are still a lot of places in this country, particularly the South, that continue to be overtly racist.  

What do you guys think of this idiot's campaign?

So I happened to flip on the Colbert Report the other day and I found this entertaining bit about how the Tea Parties are racist.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/281750/april-20-2010/p-k--winsome---tea-party-consulting

For those of you that don't know, the "Tea Party Patriots" is a rallying group of Americans who come together for their 3 core values: fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets.  But apparently, this movement is almost ENTIRELY white.  Colbert does an entertaining parody with Tim Meadows about how the Tea Party can make themselves seem less racist by hiring his "consulting firm".  As soon as I watched this I knew I needed to post about it, however I wasn't sure what to talk about until I thought more about the topic and got to wondering....

How often do you think racial tensions are eased in real life by staging or hiring out some "multicultural" faces.  For instance, a white presidential candidate might have a very publicized picture with a Middle Eastern person after waging war on a country from that region.  Does such a thing happen?  And how often?  Does it actually have a positive impact on their public image?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36714961#36739929

This is an interview that was done with Latino Civil Rights leader Janet Murguia regarding the recent immigration bill that was passed in Arizona. She talks about some of the negative consequences of this bill on the Latino population of Arizona. She argues that the passing of this bill will essentially legalize racial profiling in that if anyone is at all suspected of being in the country illegally, authorities will have the right to search their homes and/or personal possessions. It sounds that if one is of Latino decent, that is all the proof authorities need to, basically, remove your constitutional rights. I'm not all that familiar with this story, but it definitely sounds unconstitutional to me.

What do you guys think? Does it seem to you that racial profiling is inevitable through the passing of this bill? Does the bill need to be changed to better protect the rights of the Latino population in Arizona? If you have not already heard about the passing of this bill, I would imagine that it will be hard to avoid as it snowballs in the uproar it is causing.


Here are a couple more news clips regarding some of the details of this bill - They make it sound that people can be identified as "possible illegals" based on appearance only, including the type of SHOES a person wears.....Are you kidding me?! Is our country going backwards away from civil rights legislation? What the hell....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36714961#36735699

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36714961#36726296

Something tells me this bill will not be around for too long....

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/04/umd_facebook_ra.php

This is an article about a recent incident at the University of Minnesota-Duluth that involves blatantly racist comments posted on a wall-to-wall conversation on Facebook. The comments were between two white girls discussing the presence of a black girl in the room they were in. Before I go on, here are some of the horrible comments they were making:

"ewww a obabacare is in the room, i feel dirty, and unsafe. keep a eye on all of your valuables and dont make direct eye contact.... i just threw up in my mouth right now....,"

"were two white girls.. she already has her 'nigga' instinct to kill us and use us to her pleasure..."

I'm sure I don't have to tell you that these comments are pretty messed up. The girls claim that they were just joking around, but I don't know what kind of person actually thinks this is funny. And what the f***, why were they publicly posting a conversation like this on Facebook?! Do people not understand that ANYONE can go on Facebook and see what you say to other people? Also, if they were in the same room, why were they using Facebook to talk to each other?!.....I hate technology....

Anyway, what kind of punishment do you think they deserve? Is it even possible to punish somebody for something like this? What leads a person to believe it is okay to 1) make these comments in the first place, 2) post this comments on their PUBLIC Facebook page, and 3) think that there is nothing wrong with making comments like this open to all eyes?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36660242/ns/us_news-washington_post//

 

This article discusses the semi-recent resegregation in two Mississippi schools.  In Tylertown Mississippi, a predominately black town, there has been a majority of white students throughout the years moving to the Salem school district,  a predominately white town.  Where Tylertown is looked at as the "black school" and Salem the "white school."  That idea really hit home here in teh Cedar Valley, where in waterloo, East and West are split into the "white" and "black" schools, with the intention that the "white" school is better than the other. 

In the article, they discuss that there has been some recent legal actions taking place.  They are investigating into the "segregation" for reasons based on race.  They are also looking into whether minority students are being treated differently than the white students in the schools.  They go on discussing how resegregation has been a recurrent trend since the 1980's. 

In this school district, they ahve had separate homecoming courts based on race and proms have been been separated based on race in the past as well. 

After reading the article I couldn't believe that this is still going on.  I have heard of having the better schools and that being based on race, which is still shocking to me, but the idea of having separate homecoming courts and proms within a school surprised me, even though it is in the south. This article both stigmatizes the black people in that town and the white people.  In recent news, the white people in these towns have been labeled the "hillbillies of Mississippi."  There has been a lot of negative press towards the white people in this town and they have all been greatly stigmatized. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/opinion/18rich.htm

This op-ed in the NY Times could not be a better summation of the recent Confederate History Month controversy. Admittedly, I do skim the news for this kind of op-ed piece that argues in favor of acknowledging that slavery did happen and that it was a fundamental reason for the civil war. Call me biased if you must. It is a guilty pleasure to read things with which I agree.

There are many opportunities in this article to ask the question 'why?'. These are questions I have been asking myself for quite some time, and luckily I have chosen the right field of study to get such questions at least partially answered.

• Why are some so adamant about denying that slavery had a big role in the Civil War and the makeup of the Confederacy?
• Was the confederacy good for anyone besides the wealthy plantation owners?
• If John Lewis doesn't have evidence that someone called him an N-word, does that mean there's no longer racism in this country?
• If it was only spittle rather than a full spit that was aimed at Emmanuel Cleaver, does that mean that there's no longer racism in this country?
• Is racism over in this country because we're fine with homophobic slurs against white, not black congressmen?
  
• If this Tea Party movement is not against the rights and liberties of minority groups, shouldn't there be more minority groups represented in the Tea Party?
• What is with the gun fixation?
• If a mob of African Americans were carrying side arms would people be ok with that?
  
• What is with the militia fixation?
• If African Americans were forming a militia would people be ok with that?
  
• What is with the Sarah Palin fixation?
• What is with the Glenn Beck fixation?
  
• Was Michael Steele not fired because he was black?
• Was Michael Steele hired because he was black?
• Does having a party that has 0 African American Congressman and 0 African American Governors think that race is not an issue because it has Michael Steele as the RNC chair, only appointed after Obama's campaign? 
  
• Has too much been made about the issues of African Americans like 52% of the Tea Party protesters feel?
• Can one man be a socialist, a communist, a fascist, and a Nazi all at the same time?
• Do people know what it means to be a socialist, a communist, a fascist, and a Nazi?
  
• If the American flag acts as a prime for conservatism, is someone who is wearing a shirt with an American flag pattern really that conservative or is it just the salience talking?
• Could the American flag also act as a prime for racial bias?
  
• Is it wrong to be prejudiced against other people who might be prejudiced?
• Can one be prejudiced against an entire news network? cough cough Fox News cough
  

Ok, my inquisitiveness and deep seated biases are out in the ether. I beg the indulgence of the public for the automaticity of my cognitive mechanisms, they are after all hard-wired and it would be futile to attempt to alter what God hath bestowed.

If someone has some answers, I would very much appreciate it. 

 

This article on msnbc: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36208200/ns/us_news-washington_post/ immediately caught my eye. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) of Virginia recently declared April as Confederate History Month. Various civil rights groups have expressed outrage over the governor's move, and I think rightfully so. Gov. McDonnell's defense was that it is a means of promoting tourism in the state. Seriously?? You have got to be kidding.

This also brings to mind the issue with the Confederate flag. I know driving through the south I have sometimes seen people displaying the Confederate flag as if it is something to be proud of. I once asked someone why they didn't view the flag as being a problem and their response was that the flag symbolized southern tradition and not racism. Aren't those one in the same though? To me they are.

What do you guys think? 

This is a link to an article discussing protesters of the health care bill shouting derogatory remarks at U.S. Rep. John Lewis (who is African-American) and openly-gay Rep. Barney Frank. I think this is yet another example that racism/prejudice is still very prevalent and people will stoop to extremely low levels when they disagree with something. It reminds me of the book I read for class (Nigger by Randall Kennedy) and all the cases where people use the word in the heat of disagreement.

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin is written using the journal entries kept by John Griffin (a white, middle class American from Texas) as he underwent treatment to temporarily become a black man.  Griffin, as a black man, traversed the streets of New Orleans, Birmingham, Montgomery, Atlanta, and various other cities in the Deep South.  Griffin provides a unique, up-close look into the prejudiced and racist south in 1959.  He is able to write from the mind of a white man but behind the eyes and experiences of a black man.

This book was a written hit to the funny-bone; it was some what painful to read but also uniquely enjoyable.  Growing up in the public school system, I learned with some regularity about the tragedies of the south up until the Civil Rights Movement.  If your average high school history text book and Black Like Me were sand paper, the text book would be a quick glance over with a table sander on low and Black Like Me would be an hour long elbow-greasing with a piece of thick grained sand paper.  Where the text book provides a technical, factual covering of the facts of pre-Civil Rights south, Griffin's book is one man's well written accounts of a black man's every day experiences. 

Some of the people he met and the things he saw made me wince with pitty, and I frequently found myself feeling shameful for the things my race has done.  I couldn't help but feel partially responsible for the horrendous treatment of my fellow man.  On the other hand, it was a real page turner.  Griffin is an easy to read author who is clearly well educated and opinionated but does a wonderful job at making this book a conduit by which to tell his experiences and not a platform to display his opinions and vocabulary.  I would recommend this book to any one wanting anything from an eye opening read, to a medium length page turner.

Author Tim Wise does an excellent job describing the state of racism in America (both before the age of Obama and during his 2008 presidential campaign). Wise's book is broken down into two main parts, or essays as he describes it. The first is an overview of racism and discrimination in America, citing both explicit and subtle forms of racism within the realms of employment and income, housing, education, criminal justice and law, health care, and even going into great detail of the inequality demonstrated during hurricane Katrina in 2006 and the 2008 presidential campaign. This portion of the book was mainly aimed at getting across the point that racism in America is still going strong, despite the fact that statistics show that most white Americans believe Obama's election as our president signals the end of racism in our country. Wise argues that although the election of a black man to our highest ranking position is a big step in the right direction, it does not mean that white people view black people on the same level they may see the president (he uses the analogy of Bill Cosby and the Cosby Show in terms of how white people view him differently because he does not fit the stereotype-consistent role of the "black man in America". Wise also spends a good portion of this part of the book criticizing Obama for his failure to address racism in a more direct fashion, stating that Obama has often side-stepped the issue of race in America and what needs to be done to promote more equality within the realms I mentioned above. My question regarding the first part of the book is: Is it really Obama's task to focus more of this effort on racism in America because he is our first black president? Because of the fact that he is our first black president, does it just come with the territory, whereas presidents before him were not "expected" to tackle this issue because they were old white men?

The second essay of the book focuses on what needs to be done to help alleviate modern racism (or racism 2.0, as Wise refers to it). In particular, Wise focuses on what white America needs to do in order to help promote equality in our country. He mentions five main goals for white America: 1) Take personal responsibility addressing racism and white privilege. 2) Listen to black people regarding racism. 3) Stop the denial of our disturbing history dealing with race. 4) Connect with anti-racist white culture to help promote understanding. 5) Speak up! - When you see racism, no matter how subtle, take action and make a difference.

Overall, I thought this book was a well organized argument for how racism is still a very big issue in our country and it can be seen where ever we go. Wise definitely did an excellent job getting the point across about how Obama's election to president does not mean racism is ending, it is simply not what it used to be....racism has evolved. Wise point out several instances of racism and discrimination in the book that relate to many concepts we have discussed in class, including stereotype threat, ingroup/outgroup biases, situational factors that bring out hidden prejudices, and institutional and modern racism. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good overview of where America stands in our battle against racism and discrimination.

The Pulitzer Prize winner To Kill a Mockingbird is a timeless classic written by Harper Lee. The story takes place in the small southern town of Maycomb County, Alabama in the midst of The Great Depression. The narrator of this riveting story is a young girl named Jean Louise Finch, or Scout. Scout is not the typical delicate, shy, and ladylike child that society expects her to be. She is an outspoken, rambunctious and free spirited tomboy who wears overalls, plays in the outdoors alongside her older brother Jem, and is far more intelligent than most in her age group. She and her brother Jem are the children of Maycomb County defense lawyer Atticus Finch. Atticus can be considered an untraditional man in several respects. For starters he is a single father raising two children. He also encourages and stresses the importance of an education and egalitarian beliefs to Scout and Jem during a time when it was very unpopular to do so.

Throughout the text, Scout walks us through her childhood adventures in this conservative southern Alabama town alongside Jem and occasionally their best friend Dill. At first life seems simple. But when their father Atticus takes on the case of his life, they all begin to realize the severity of racial turmoil that defined American society during this time period.

  In the story, Atticus takes on the case of a Negro man named Tom Robinson. Tom is a young family man whose only crime is that he is African American. He stands accused of raping the eldest daughter of Mr. Ewells, an impoverished social misfit in Maycomb County. The Ewells are an unpopular family who live on the outskirts of Maycomb in the midst of the town's dump. They are known by everyone in the county for being aggressive, dishonest, uncivilized, unclean, and uneducated. Despite these facts they hold a great advantage over the most civilized and honest African Americans: they are white.

 Scout and Jem encounter dirty stares and insults by many of their fellow townsfolk because their father is defending a Negro. Through example however, Atticus teaches his children that the color of your skin does not define what kind of person you are. Everyone should be treated with kindness and respect. Scout and Jem manage to hold their heads high and support their father's cause. Despite the best efforts of Atticus however, Tom is convicted of raping Mr. Ewells' daughter and is sentenced to death. Scout and Jem learn the grim reality that justice for all does not exist in the ignorant and racist American culture.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a wonderful text to read when learning about stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Readers can get examples of all three of these elements throughout the entire story not just in the context of black versus white, but also society versus women, and poor whites versus everyone else. Some of the social psychological underpinnings of this novel deal with constructs such as categorization, Social Identity Theory, depersonalization and dehumanization, out-group homogeneity, social motives such as self-enhancement and control, and the list goes on.

Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a wonderful representation of the struggles experienced by generations of minorities as well as females throughout American history. From a social scientific standpoint, the novel gives social psychological novices a well rounded summary of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination along with solutions to such issues.

For my book report I read Michael Eric Dyson's Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, an analysis of the events leading up to and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This book offers insight into how Hurricane Katrina affected the city of New Orleans, and why it was that race and social status mattered in the way the country responded to Katrina.

Dyson reviews some of the social injustices which have plagued African Americans in New Orleans for decades as well as the inherent disadvantages that left African Americans stranded in the path of the storm. Many parties, including the media, FEMA, and former president George W. Bush, are called out for their mismanagement of relief efforts and coverage of Katrina. From the effects of the media coverage on public opinion of those left in the storm's wake, to the social structure that originally allowed such economic disparity in New Orleans, the events surrounding one of the worst natural disasters in recent U.S. history carry with it connections to various psychological theories of prejudice and stereotyping. Looking at this book in terms of the content learned in SPD can allow for the interpretation of the mishaps that occurred throughout the duration of Katrina, at a psychological level. We can also better understand the impact a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina has on perceptions of victims, especially when the victims are mostly poor African Americans.  

If you are interested in learning more about this particular book or other books by Michael Eric Dyson please follow the link below.
http://www.michaelericdyson.com/comehell/
 

Everyone should check out this website and the accompanying video! This has changed my entire view on the history of the United States in terms of racial relations between white people and black people. Is it possible that we have all been brainwashed through years of exposure to the superiority-inferiority of the two races? Would this explain why so many people still hold strong prejudices and/or are outright bigots?

http://www.stopthebrainwash.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIBQPORReWY&feature=player_embedded

I think that we, as a society, need to take a long look in the mirror and figure out where we have been in order to decide what we really are today. This does not only include the white race, but the black race as well. The perpetuating harm that is being done today through the media has ties to early advertising of slaves, mockery of black people, and early silent films. However, we do not even realize this because of how long this propoganda has been around. I don't know about you, but I totally buy into what Tom Burrell is getting at through this website. Check out Kim's post on Burrell's NPR interview if you want to hear more from him.

 

Paul Mooney is one of the Kings of comedy. He has written stand up comedy for Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Saturday night live and many other venues. He is mainly known for his active stance in confronting racism in America through Stand up Comedy and going on different talk shows to address these issues faced by society today. Paul has a strait forward or blunt approach he takes which makes most White people uncomfortable and upset. There are a lot of good youtube videos that go into greater detail with his views. Do you think by him being direct about these issues help or harm the message he is trying to portray?

This is one of the first petitions I have seen that has the particular goal of trying to curb Tea Party hate-speech. There have been several posts on here about the Tea Party movement being racist, but I think more importantly there is an unacceptable amount of downright hateful rhetoric coming from the protesters. For an example see below:

http://www.bing.com/videos/?FORM=MFEVID&publ=2BE19A43-506C-4905-B386-894988BC18EB&crea=STND_MFEVID_core_HuffPo_CustomVidLink_1x1&q=tea+party+hate&docid=1710637056421

This link is a plea for signatures by a group on Facebook called Cuentame. I suggest you go to their page and check out some of their videos. It's pretty cool stuff they're doing. You could sign the petition too if you wanted. http://www.facebook.com/cuentame?action_id=1494448&akid=.1122584.lu_Vgz&v=app_10339498918#!/cuentame

Here is their video posted on Huffington Post today.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/24/latino-group-pushes-petit_n_511476.html 

This is a clip of a Hispanic guy going solo against a group of racist protesters. They keep telling him to go back to his country and he fires back saying he is indigenous to the continent and that they should go back to Europe. Their logic is flawed and they keep calling him a coward even though he's one man standing up to a group of people.

Would you have the guts to stand up to a group of people like this? Do you think his presence fueled their fire?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LCL2IqgjSc

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/57389/bias-incidents-at-u.c.-campuses-raising-alarm-of-bigotry/

I thought this was a fitting article after reading Billig. Do you think the incidents on some of California's campuses could be attributed to pockets of hate or something else (the article mentions media attention and adolescence as a couple)?

The Southern Poverty Law Center's annual report just came out, and it reported that there was a 244% increase in the amount of "Patriot" groups forming. These groups espouse anti-government conspiracy theories and blind Patriotic messages of upholding the constitution. This rise blamed on the state of the economy, frustrations of unemployment, and derivations of rhetoric coming out of the Tea Party movement.There was a 40% overall increase in hate groups throughout the U.S. in the past year. The report also sites a number of crimes connected to these hate groups in the past year.

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-report-number-of-patriot-groups-militias-surges-by-244-in-past-year

In the report they talked about a moving toward a bit of a threshold. In my opinion I very much believe that this report is related to the events at the various universities. I think that frustration, especially economic frustration is a potent variable when it comes to expressing prejudice and hate toward the out-group. Moreover, when frustration is fueled by conspiracy theories, fear mongering, and misinformation, the corollaries are to sure to be hateful and harmful.
 


    

A noose found on campus. A widely publicized "Compton Cookout" themed party (sponsored by white students), protests, and walk-outs. All at UCSD.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/26/uc-san-diego-racial-tensi_n_478612.html

Here's a letter I received from the Chancellor of UC Riverside (I'm an alum, so I get updates):

TO:    Faculty, Staff, Students and Alumni
          University of California, Riverside

I add my voice of outrage over the recent series of racist events that have occurred on or near the San Diego campus of the University of California.

We are all diminished by such despicable and unacceptable behaviors by a few individuals... such racist bigotry and ignoorance have no place in a civilized society, particularly a campus of the University of California because of our high expectations, expressed in the campus’ Principles of Community (http://chancellor.ucr.edu/documents/community.pdf) and statement on respect (http://chancellor.ucr.edu/documents/Respect.pdf).

For our faculty, staff, students and alumni who are African American, these events can be particularly and personally traumatizing. To all, I offer my continuing support, and my unyielding commitment to be proactive in identifying, confronting, and eradicating racism.

Below are links to two additional statements, one from UC President Mark Yudof and Russell Gould, Chair of the UC Board of Regents, and a second from President Yudof, all 10 chancellors, and the chair and vice chair of the UC Academic Senate.

Timothy P. White
Chancellor 

http://chancellor.ucr.edu/Yudof%20and%20Gould%20Statement.pdf

http://chancellor.ucr.edu/documents/Statement%20from%20Chancellors.pdf

---

All of this on the heals of media reports showing that colleges and universities are not doing a good job of retaining minorities and graduating them. This was last week's letter from the Chancellor:

Dear Friends,

There have been several stories in the national and regional media this week regarding gaps in college graduation rates along racial and ethnic lines.

At the University of California, Riverside, graduation rate gaps are negligible.

The March 1 print edition of Newsweek contained an article titled, “Minority Report: American universities are accepting more minorities than ever. Graduating them is another matter” (http://www.newsweek.com/id/233843).

While the authors highlight a number of public universities with pronounced racial and ethnic gaps in graduation rates, they - as well as students, parents and lawmaakers - should know that such results are hardly inevitable.

Among UCR entering freshmen classes over the last half-dozen years, African Americans, Chicanos/Latinos, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and whites each graduated at rates of 66-70%. In fact, data from the last two years of graduating classes show our African American students outperformed whites, 71% to 66%.

This success is not because we admit only elite students. Rather, we add enormous value through freshman learning communities and other academic opportunities and support efforts during a student’s matriculation. Further, our students generally have a strong work ethic about their studies and have had instilled in them by prior experience - coupled with theiir own intrinsic drive and ability - a deep responsibility to taake full advantage of the opportunities offered by UCR.

UC Riverside faculty and staff maintain an unyielding commitment to diversity as a vital component of academic excellence in today’s world. Our diversity of people, programs, and ideas has demonstrably enhanced our teaching, learning, research, and creative activity. This is reflected in a quote this week from our fourth-year student La Tonya Hodges, who is African American, “When you see there are black people around you being successful and graduating, that pumps you up to want to achieve and do well.”

Upon graduation, students from the nine UC campuses with undergraduate students are queried through the University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey. In response to the statement that, “Diversity is important on this campus,” 91% of Riverside graduates agree (the range across UC is 74% - 91%). When asked “Are students of my race/ethnicity respected on this campus?”, 87% of UCR students agree; for African American students it’s 77%; for Chicano/Latino students it’s 90%; and Asian American/Pacific Islander 88%. These responses are consistently among the top across the UC.

The word about UCR’s success in recruiting, retaining and graduating students of color has been gaining traction in the media, including just this week a mention in New York Times and California Watch blogs, and our regional paper The Press-Enterprise (links follow my letter for those interested).

While some universities and colleges seek recognition for the students they admit, we are most interested in being known for the students we graduate...and it is a gratifying point of pridee for our faculty, staff, students, and alums to see the national recognition in this regard.

Best regards,

Tim

Tim White, Chancellor

  -------

 

17 Students were arrested at UC Irvine in part for protesting racists acts ongoing at UCSD

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/uc-irvine-protest-17-arre_n_475903.html

 

"Seventeen UC Irvine activists were arrested after carrying out an impassioned sit-in outside the school chancellor's office this morning."                                                                                                                                  

This is an investigative report from 20/20 from 2 about 2 years ago. You'll have to check out the 2 videos (they are each about 6-7 min. long), but I thought this was an excellent example of how race and crime are associated in many people's mind. I thought the results of this report were pretty amazing. What would you do in this situation? Do you think you would react as most people did in this video, or would your behavior be different because of what we know about racism? Would the results of this "study" be different depending on the environment?


Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNu-WZdHzaA&NR=1

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIVgMvuCM_k&feature=related

Over the weekend I was in Minneapolis when I noticed a brand new Bentley sitting in the parking lot.  Honestly my first thought was that this car probably belongs to a big, black, professional athlete or rapper.  Much to my surprise, a dressed down mixed-race woman and her daughter got in the car.  After this, I got to wondering why I would associate a $100K car with a black man.  So I did a little looking into it and found this video, it is literally just a voice recording with a picture slide show but it is a very unique look at, perhaps, why I jumped to this conclusion.  The video says that rich white men have been creating negative stereotypes for black people so that they can have more power.  Listening to this video got me very puzzled.  Perhaps I've been lied to all my life, but I just can't see what this video is trying to say.  What are your thoughts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36vgBn6CAyU

http://www.kwwl.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=4563799&h1=You%27ve%20Got%20Class%3ARacism%20and%20Bullying&vt1=v&at1=Station 9&d1=156067&LaunchPageAdTag=Search Results&activePane=info&rnd=30868717

I saw this segment this past week on the KWWL News.  I thought it was inspirng to see these children who want to make a difference in the Waterloo school district.  They did a survey of middle schools in the area, to talk about if they see racism and bullying in their schools, the numbers were shocking.  A lot of  children who took the survey, also said that they wanted to learn more about racism, so they are teaming up with the Human Rights Council to implement programs in area schools, they found out that talking about these issues, need to happen in early middle school rather than highschool. 

I read an article that talked about the implicit attitudes that happen from children who are 6, 10, and adults.  This test showed that children as young as six have negative attitudes towards other races.  They might not know why they have these attitudes, but the fact that this starts as early as the age of six seems disheartening.  I think that interventions need happen  earlier than middle school. If certain children are being discriminated against this early than dealing with it when it already is happening won't help those children.  There needs to be more preventative measures when dealing with racism and bullying in schools.

  In a study done by Major and O'Brien, 2005, about the social psychology of stigma, shows the effects that being stigmatized against can have on someone.  The article says that stigma has been linked to poor mental health, physical illness, academic underachievement, infant mortality, low social status, poverty, and reduced access to housing, education, and jobs (Allison 1998, Braddock and McPartland 1987, Clark et. al 1999, Yinger 1994).  Some of these ideas don't affect the children right now, it can in their future.  I think it's a good thing that these children are trying to do something now and with other children who are their age, but instead of dealing with a problem that is currently happening to children at that age, I think that doing more on the prevention side of things would be beneficial in the long run when dealing with racism and bullying in schools.

 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/ucsd-leaders-legislators-condemn-student-party-mocking-black-history-month.html
&
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/uc-san-diego-officials-meet-with-students-angered-by-offcampus-compton-cookout-.html

"UC San Diego administrators met Friday with more than 100 students who gathered to protest a Feb. 15 ghetto-themed "Compton Cookout" and to ask for improved conditions for black students on the campus.

Tensions have escalated since a Facebook invitation filled with racial stereotypes advertised the gathering last weekend. The invitation included references to "dat Purple Drank," an apparent mix of "sugar, water, and the color purple, chicken, coolade, and of course Watermelon."


Can you imagine if something like this occurred here at UNI? What would your reaction to your peers be? What factors do you think are at play in this community that would allow something like this to take place?

http://www.northern-iowan.org/multimedia/travel
I was looking for a story in the Northern Iowan, and I came across this advertisement listed below in the travel section, I was thinking wow, in the newspaper of the University that talks about "diversity matters' but yet, it implies and promotes a false image when and entity is being bias toward an ethnicity Mexican's/Latinos/Hispanics can take this ad offensive when it says "you don't have to cross the boarder." 


Ad:
Spring Break Texas
Spring break South Padre Island is an affordable destination with beautiful beaches, stunning ocean views, and a party scene that is simply unbeatable. South Padre Island has the perfect mix of a Mexican feel without having to cross the border.

Is it discriminatory, towards Mexicans'/Latinos/Hispanics?  You tell me how I should feel reading this ad if you were in my shoes? How does it make you feel when you see this? 

This is a real short story about a government agency seeking to reduce prejudice attitudes from a young age. It would consider preschool children to be 'racist' by saying that they don't like foriegn foods. I think it's a little silly since most kids win't eat anything but chicken nuggets and mac & cheese. Our tase buds get less sensitive as we get older and kids are probably just hypersensitive to foods that have a lot of flavor. Does this mean we should brand them as racists? Does disliking different foods really mean you're prejudiced? I think i's a good idea to combat prejudice at an early age, but isn't personal food preference a little too far? In my opinion that's like telling someone they're unamerican for not liking steak. What do you think?

http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/2008/07/07/toddlers-who-dislike-spicy-food-racist/