Ways To Overcome Racism On Campus

Introduction: On February 20th in Whitley Auditorium, I watched Daryl Davis’ speech called “Diversity Lessons from a Black Klan Whisperer”. In his introduction, Davis gave his background as an only child of a military officer, describing how his family was always on the move from one country to the next. Davis explained that because he was constantly travelling and meeting new people from different backgrounds, he never discovered the concept of racism. This arrangement of ideas grabbed the audience’s attention and kept it going as he delved further into his personal experiences. When Davis was 12, he was targeted during a Boy Scout parade and crowd members threw cans and bottles at him.

“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”-MLK Jr.

As Nelson Mandela once said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Nelson Mandela is a historical figure who fought against discrimination and oppression in South Africa. In this quote, Mandela is saying that one is born without any urge to discriminate or oppress another. Instead, one learns to hate others, but since hate is learned, love can also be learned. Additionally, love will triumph over hate because love comes more instinctually. Throughout history, there are a bountiful amount of horrific events of discrimination and oppression that have occurred. Unfortunately, these events continue to occur today. The Holocaust, which occurred during World War Two, is a prime example of how discrimination led to the deaths of millions of innocent Jews, just because of their religion. However, not just Jewish people were affected in the Holocaust. Other people such as gypsies and homosexuals were also discriminated and persecuted against by the Nazis. Even closer to the present, Martin Luther King fought tirelessly for the rights of the black community through his speech, “I Have a Dream”. The results of his speech were astonishing and a direct retaliation to the discrimination and oppression against black people. Today, as informed citizens and the

American icon and former civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." This quote speaks volumes about the message that he is trying to convey towards society regarding racism. He is basically saying not to judge others just because of their skin color, but love them for who they are. We should not be too quick to judge others, and work to remove our own flaws. As a society, we should examine one based on "the content of their character." This quote is very significant and relevant to the topic, who was the most effective civil rights leader,

Students from Missouri University stated that there were incidents of racism throughout the school. When this issue was brought forth President Tim Wolfe, he did not address it. A graduate student by the name of Jonathan Butler announced that he would go on a hunger strike until President Wolfe stepped down. This started a major domino effect with the rest of the school. This was

The racism that runs deep in the blood of the United States is a complex issue to tackle. As white supremacy was the foundation on which the country was born, many believe that society breeds this racism and deny the possibility of change. bell hooks eloquently addresses the problems faced by those who seek to make change and establish equality in her essay, “Loving Blackness as Political Resistance.” She discusses these problems through the lens of her instruction by using responses to lectures. This brings to light the contemporary struggles in a very real context as most of her students are those who believe that they are progressive, yet hooks demonstrates where they lack: loving blackness. This notion goes

“The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.” US Representative, John Lewis said this in his return to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial he spoke on 54 years ago, during the March on Washington. Racism has been around since the beginning of time, but it is not human nature. Racism is something that is taught, and given the amount of time that has passed since To Kill A Mockingbird and the March on Washington, one would think that racism wouldn’t be a serious issue any more. Although race relations have improved along with other social issues from the time of To Kill Mockingbird, racism and discrimination are major problems in today’s society.

An especially powerful quote from the book reads, “We must face that racism manifests itself not only in individual

Colleges are vastly known to have people who bring in their ideas and cultures to campuses. However, there are sometimes when people from two different cultures conflict with each other and it causes problems for not only a college campus but for a society as well. Take the racial conflict between African American and Caucasian Americans, their feud has been going on in America for the past two decades. In 1992, Rodney King was beaten by L.A. police which started the “L.A. Riots” (Biography.com, 2015). During 2012, Trayvon Martin was killed by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman (Biography.com, 2016). In August 2014, unarmed teenager, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson (Buchanan, 2014). These events have two significant things in common. The three victims were killed by white individuals and they were killed on the basis of discrimination and mainly direct racism.

The University of Missouri has experienced a great amount of racial tension in the past months, but this has pushed many students over the edge (1). Roughly sixty of the school’s African American football players announced that they were planning on boycotting any events football related, including their Saturday night game against Brigham Young University unless school President Tim Wolfe resigned his post (1). A graduate student named Jonathan Butler went on a hunger strike, demanding that the president resign (1). He told the Washington post, “I already feel like campus is an unlivable space, so it’s worth sacrificing something of this grave amount, because I’m already not wanted here. I’m already not treated like I’m a human” (Miller 1). Those who joined in the spreading protests all called for the president’s resignation, claiming that he had not handled the growing racial tension properly (1). According to reports, the African American group entitled Concerned Student 1950 had sent Wolfe numerous letters and emails bringing these events to his attention (1).

“On November 2nd, a coalition of students called Next Yale marched on University President Peter Salovey’s house to submit a list of measures the administration should take to improve the racial climate on campus, including an ethnic studies distributional requirement for all Yale undergraduates” (Victor, 2015). A majority of the students at Yale University voted in favor of making ethnic studies a requirement for undergraduates. In Arizona, around July, legislators decided to prohibit students from taking a Mexican-American ethnic studies class because they believed the class would promote ethnic solidarity instead of promoting the treatment of the people as individuals.

"The legacy of past racism directed at blacks in the United States is more like a bacillus that we have failed to destroy, a live germ that not only continues to make some of us ill but retains the capacity to generate new strains of a disease for which we have no certain cure." - Stanford Historian George Frederickson.

Racism is an ongoing force that negatively impacts the lives of Americans every day. The racist mindset in America stems from the times of slavery, where blacks were thought to be inferior to whites. Throughout history, the ideology of race and racism has evolved and developed several different meanings. Today, we can still see the devastating effects of racism on people of color, as well as whites. “Racism, like other forms of oppression, is not only a personal ideology based on racial prejudice, but a system involving cultural messages and institutional policies and practices as well as beliefs and actions of individual” (Tatum, pg. 9). As a result of this system, it leaves the

I graduated high school in 1986 and from the day I was born until I went into government service I was not one much interested in art. I spent most of my days as a typical Southern California kid spending a majority of my days outside with friends at the beach or enjoying the beauty of living in “America’s Finest City”. I wasn’t planning on going to college after high school so AP classes weren’t a priority during my high school years. After graduation the same applied for my years of travel until I left government service in 2017. Over the years I have enjoyed the occasional musical and have admired the beauty of a few paintings, on the occasion that I happened to be somewhere that had some, and have admired the beauty of both ancient and modern architecture over my many travels, but I have never really taken the time to study and examine the true beauty of all the art around me. Fast-forward to August 2017 and my first year of college. Thanks to 9/11 GI Bill, and Professor James Holbrook’s Humanities class, I was exposed to new information on the complexities of art that I was never aware of.

“Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone” is a very relatable and well-known quote. People nowadays choose to leave things as they are and turn back on important issues like abuse or racism. These two topics have been all on the news lately. Little kids or just normal people getting abused or mistreated. People of the white race treating others that have a different race unfairly. My friend had a personal experience with racism a couple of months ago when she went to a restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. She went with her family to what was supposed to be one of the best restaurants in the city, and it ended up being one of the worst. They separated whites, blacks, asians, mexicans, everyone. She posted about it on social