Racism Widespread Among White College Students, Study Says
A new study has shown that racism among white college students is widespread, although not openly apparent.
Sociologists studied 626 journals kept by white college students at colleges and universities across the United States and found repeated racist slurs and stereotypes such as blacks being lazy, criminal and oversexed.
Publicly, however, these students showed no outward racism towards black students. The findings will be released in a new book entitled "Two-Faced Racism: Whites in the Backstage and Frontstage," published this spring by Routledge.
but seriously, i'd like to know if the level of racism is higher amongst whites. seems damn near everyone is racist, and it should be looked at as a cross-cultural problem rather than a white invention.
It gets a little tiring to hear people whine about how "statistics" are in general not to be believed when they don't conform to what they wish were true, and then use other statistics as evidence for their own points later on. Kind of like some peoples' allergy to "experts".
It's the new face of racism in a society which demands it be veiled. I'm a little surprised at the results, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if this were a bit sensationalized. There are a few questions of methodology raised. Firstly, I want to know why anyone would be candid enough with a journal, which they know will be analyzed by another person, to use language and stereotypes like this. I expect some deception was used here, but the source doesn't get into that. Secondly, this just doesn't make sense:
"Their analysis of content found that whites frequently use the word 'n**ger' when referring to blacks when they are alone with their white friends."
Were these kids writing journals or transcribing their daily conversations? I fail to see how a journal would accurately reflect the content and nuances of each daily conversation.
1: Hello. 2: Hello how are you? 1: I'm fine thanks. 2: So you're white are you? 1: I guess I am. 2: Have you ever said the word n**ger when not in the presence of a black person? 1: I guess I have. 2: AH-HAH!
racism isn't using objectional words in and of itself, but rather the implication of the word, its intended meaning,
listen to geroge carlin using all the racial slurs he can think of, how many people would call him racist. i wouldn't.
i used and still used words that can be considered racist, never have i used them in a racial means, never to attack a group of people, personally i'd rather attack indivuals than groups, based on their actions and ignorance.
personally i don't think most people that are racist know they are racist, but rather are doing such out of ignorance or environment.
If anyone knows why this study may have found this, I do. 2 kids are born, in the same neighborhood and go to the same school. Both of their dads work at the local GM Plant, and their moms stay home to take care of the other siblings. They both graduate with a 4.0 average, and apply for the same college. The black kid receives extra student grants, and is allowed entry on his first try because the college needs to meet racial regulations. The white kid receives no extra student grants, because unless he turns gay, black, or into a woman there are none specifically designed to help him. He is denied because the quota of white students was filled months ago (since this is in-fact a white-dominant city).
If this was to happen to all of his friends as well, and even happen twice in a row or so he would of coarse begin to get upset with the system or in some cases the actual black students getting in. Once he finally did get into the school, the black kid who was accepted a year or two earlier now has a better dorm, is further up the so-called 'college chain'.
I would still argue that black students could very easily be just as racist, if not even more racist - since generally in their culture they can say words like cracker and whitey without fear of so much as getting a second look from anyone. -np-
Come on what total rubbish this study is the black people are more racist, Damn I went in to a school and heard the kids telling me I was a batty boy, to which if they are being racist to me I will be racist back my response being "sorry I don't talk black I speak english do you know how to speak it?"
what you're describing has been called angry white male syndrome. the very real disillusionment of white people who realize they're not getting all they were promised, or do not have the same opportunities their parents had. in short, this does not justify racism because it's not black people who have taken these things from white people. as chris rock says "if white people are losing, who's winning?" and so we have neo-nazi groups on the rise who think it's illegal immigration or black scholarships which have forced the white race to work at wal-mart for minimum wage. it's downright foolish to blame minorities for these woes when we're all in the same boat. look to the corporations controlling america who have robbed you of your dream if you want to blame someone, not the black kid from the same shitty neighborhood as yourself.
I'm with what you're saying, but surely if racism wasn't there there would be no black only college funds etc.
the fact that these things exist today is a sign that everyone is racist.
you'd never see a 'White Entertainment Network'
same goes for the gays, at my friends college there was a 10% club for gay people (apparently 10 percent of the population are gay) this club got funding from the college etc. etc.
my friend in retaliation tried to make a 90% and almost got expelled.
i've never argued that racism "wasn't there" or that it doesn't exist amongst non-whites (reference my first comment). as far as scholarships and the like, there are italian foundations, german foundations, irish foundations, etc, which give the same to white people.
my point is that racism is never justified, even if you think you've gotten the wrong end of the deal. things are more complicated. in most cases, white people do have the upperhand, and if this historically privileged group is taking a hard beating it's due to higher powers, not the minorities which are at an even lower level of advancement.
Please, show me where in my posts I said it justified racism?
I simply said that it is a reason college students may have hate towards them. I am not racist myself, I treat everyone like a human individual until I have reason not to - I in no way support what college students think, and to be honest agree with what you're saying. I tried to offer an explanation to everyone else reading this since no one up to me had tried to. I don't want this topic to turn into race wars, we should be working together and not wasting energy foolishly against each other.
-my point is that racism is never -justified, even if you think you've -gotten the wrong end of the deal. -things are more complicated. in most -cases, white people do have the -upperhand, and if this historically -privileged group is taking a hard -beating it's due to higher powers, not -the minorities which are at an even -lower level of advancement.
I agree with that, it just makes me lose all faith when I see stuff like this - when in the hell are we going to grow up and look at a person as SIMPLY a person, and not a black/white/asian/hispanic/etc. person? We've got to stop the clubs, and grow up and support and help everyone - but that'll never truly happen. -np-
Start practicing birth control if they want to continue being minorities. I have the feeling if I live long enough that I might become a minority. P.S. call me what you want, won't bother me a rats ass..
your story was explaining why a white person might be racist towards a minority from the same neighborhood, but i did not claim that you said racism was justified. i was speaking generally about the mindset you were describing.
Ah, wasn't sure man, sometimes emotions don't translate through posts - and I couldn't tell if you were trying to attack my position or what. Cool though, glad we agree. -np-
looking back on the post, it can seem as if i'm attacking you. acceptable misunderstanding. but i'd rather have misunderstandings on shortnews than emoticons.
<looks around> now if only we could get rid of those damn mexicans there wouldn't be any racism left.
I have to admit that I am wary of statistics. Maybe, I am allergic to experts.
On one side, I treat all stats as pointers but nevertheless a proposition by an industry funded expert.
On the otherside, if the *entire* science community tell you something, I take it as gospel. One of my friends told another: "If everyone tells you, you're dead. You should lie down".
They should come to South Africa. We have a nice amount of racism on both sides here. The funny thing is, that they mosty saywhite people are racist but i fing that a helluva lot of black people are just as racist and some even more so. Now fine, some of them have a reason or two to be racist, but others just are.
it doesnt take a study to read the news and find out each week a frat is being suspended/busted because of a stupid costume party making fun of blacks/latinos (especially during Feb for blacks)
College - where people can break free and show their real selves before entering the workplace.
I just hope this book doesn't cause another riot like when the anti-white mini-series, Roots came out, there was a lot of beatings on white people in America, even though this happened over a 100 years ago, and most white people now had nothing to do with it. So if an event that most black people were rioting from, weren't even born in the generation of, can you imagine when this book comes out? Just another excuse to hate white people. It's almost like its a taboo to be white sometimes...
Batty Boy is a derogatory word, but not aimed specifically at White people; it is a derogatory of ones sexuality; meaning your gay. It is an old Jamaican term; either way it is ignorance none the less.
And as much as I will sound racist with this, i'm not..but its unfair treatment... I'm white/caucasion as can be, and there are alot of middle eastern and asian students in my school (international business and all). It seems they can get away with just about anything academically speaking...granted there is a language barrier and all, Ive noticed with my IT classes that a good majority of these students don't adhere to the syllabus and posted guidelines for completing work and such.
My current class is somewhat like that, and its hybird, meaning we only meet a few times during the class in person, the rest of the time via an online version of the classroom. We're instructed to post answers to questions, cases, etc by a certain time, and half of them don't even post, the rest post 2 weeks late, post half the questions and answers that don't remotely seem to be even decently translated english..and while I applaud them for trying to learn in a language not their own, I feel sometimes they arent even trying, yet they get an A, while I work my ass off with a full time job, a wife, and then on top of that homework for several hours at a time per week to get a B or C even when I put in twice the amount of work...
I hate to say it but sometimes this race issue is a real one as it seems like the standards for non-american students in american schools has been dropped to get their money in the schools pockets...
It's not RACISM until somebody is put at a disadvantage or is hurt in some way (physically or emotionally) as a result of prejudice. If somebody has an OPINION about a racial group it is just that, an opinion.
As long as they keep their thoughts and ideas to themselves and don't act out there should be no problem. Or are we going to start policing peoples thoughts too?
I have plenty of opinions about devout religious nuts, upper management, and yes, ethnic groups. As long as i treat these people with respect it doesn't matter what i think.
last I knew the definition of "racism" wasn't "ONLY white people who hate those of a different or mixed" Therefore the term reverse racism is one of my pet peeves. It's RACISM no matter if it's a white person hating a black person or a black person hating a white person. I loathe that term "reverse racism", since that is exactly what we need to do. Reverse it.
626 is a sufficient sample size for statistical significance. While no one said anything about ALL white students, it is enough to indicate that many, if the numbers show it.
That's another serious question raised here - there are no numbers in the source. There are general, non-quantifiable, non-scientific statements about "widespread prejudice," "frequently" used slurs, and "commonplace" stereotypes, but no real statistics. I take serious issue with the source's reporting, leading me to question what "JBHE" stands for, which is "The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education." Here is their mission statement: http://www.jbhe.com/ "Providing racial statistics, on an institution-by-institution basis, appears to have considerable competitive force in persuading American colleges and universities to more fully integrate their campuses."
That sounds like bias to me. This article may be no more than a plug to support a book which advances their agenda, which is to pressure educational institutions with "statistics" (which are, ironically, absent).
Again, I'm not trying to be racist, but I have a problem with people who arent applying themselves to the same standards I am expected to uphold at my college, and I have a real hard time where people are being passed with A's, having not put in the required amount of work, and I get handed a B when I go above and beyond...it's quite unfair.
I wholly agree with you though, that we need to stop all forms of discrimination though.
I know you weren't. That phrase is one of maybe three in the world that offends me. I can't think of the other two at the moment. I agree with you on the college thing too, very unfair.
Someday I will be proved correct in the opinion that racism that most people see or hear of is a natural condition to the days when someone was not of you town or village they were viewed with suspicion. One could claim this has been true since the tower of Babel. One could also say that in as in any group of people or animals being outside of the pack could land you in trouble during an encounter. Racism could be sort of a hard wired group defense mechanism much like fear or shock. But with all basic instincts and feelings we as humans have the ability of not letting them control our auctions. I think we all have a little racism when we meet new and different people and I mean ALL people. But we can and should rise above it.
Racial tolerance is a situation where you accept that people who are different count for as much as you yourself. They are all welcome to be different in whatever ways come natural to them. They need you to know that they are not the same as you so they don't want to live by the same rules or conventions.
Racism is a situation where you openly discuss those differences. This is also referred to as 'stereotyping'. The minorities may own the right to cultural rights but Canadians own no such right. White Canadians are in a position where personal equality in citizenship would require us to be raised to parity with visible minorities , gays , and even pedophiles.
Each of those groups has a longer list of civil rights than I have. They have the same rights as myself and other additional court-given rights that acrue to them soley on the basis of their cultural or ethnic background. How their conduct , activities , political lobbying affects me is something I'm not welcome to comment about.
The Somalian practice of female castration did not go over real big in Canada. They claimed they had a right to continue this practice under the protection of Canada's cultural rights provisions. They lost in court.
So apparently there IS some kind of imaginary line. Apparently you don't have the right to do do absolutely anything and call it culture. But who exercises the line and upon what logic or rationale? It isn't me.
Let's sum up. You are welcome to accept these racial or cultural differences but you are not welcome to discuss what those differences are or how they may affect you. Examination is a bad thing ; expression a worse thing. And of course you still have your freedom of speech. Just shut up and don't say a word unless its a cheer for freedom and democracy.
I wonder how you apply the imaginary line when you are specifically and deliberately forbidden to point at a minority member and express that you are offended at his conduct. Canada's hate crime laws are a gag order. Minorities can do whatever they want and Canadians are legally bound to live with it no matter how it affects our ethos or our soul.
It doesn't matter how offensive is the behaviour that you would like to see stopped. You are a racist pig for bringing it up ; the kind of filth that would interest your local RCMP witchpricker.
You can live in distress. You can live in fear. You can be aware in HiDef that your community is going to Hell in a handbasket. But you'd better not talk about it or a Mountie will come and throw you down the well.
Being muzzled makes people antsy. It brings them to question the simple things that they believe. Then they hang around together muttering about how things used to be. The crack dealers outside the house have a right to assemble freely and the people in the houses have a right to shiver in fear and live the Alamo story.
This book will widen the divide twixt black and white. The illegal aliens issue is an even bigger force than the anger of the slaves. Watch them become allies in spite of their historical angst with one another. Look for growth in every racial unrest sector. Buy shares now! And buy some Kevlar undies as well.
What you described is not racism, or reverse racism, IMO it is economical preferred treatment. Assuming what you said is true, and the school is just out to get those international students’s money, it is not because they are Asian or white or Arab, it is because they probably pay 2 to 3 times more in tuition than you do. Hence, even though it is a form of discrimination, it is not determined by race or ethnicity of those involved.
If those are rich white international students from Europe, who are all white, and you are some poor black or Asian student trying to get an education, I highly doubt the situation would change much.
With that being said, same thing holds true for many other Universities as well, especially Ivy Leagues ones. If you have close relationship with Alumni who have donated a lot of money in the past, or can bring a lot of good publicity to the school, you will not be held to the same standard as rest.
Believe it or not, this is actually what most Asian student faces. Because of over abundance of Asians, they are actually held too much higher standards than all other groups (including the white majority, some times as high as 50 SAT points).
In general, the way affirmative action works is that the % is reserved for certain groups. For example, it could be: 10% for blacks, 10% for Latinos, 70% for white, and 10% for Asians (just bunch of examples). This effectively means blacks compete with other blacks, white compete with other whites, etc.
If affirmative action is removed, and a color blind enrollment policy is in place and is determined purely by academic and/or extra-curricula studies, expect the Asian population to sky rocket. Not only will black and Latino student population lose out to Asians, some white will be squeeze out as well.
What does this mean, it means if with AA in place, a white student cannot compete with a black student (even though they have the same GPA), chances are, the same white student will not be able to compete with Asian students once AA has been removed. As University of Berkeley has demonstrated.
@ simon: i think root is right, i heard the word being used a lot with that meaning.
@ Kinko: Racism is horrible and i agree it can lead to devastating actions. However it doesn't always have to have an outcome. Someone can be racist and not physically/ verbally harm the other person. I have many black friends but even they can tell you i was racially abused before for my colour. My friends felt really bad someone would do that and some even wanted to pick up fights, but i was alright because whoever said whatever they said must have eard it from a white person. funny thing is i am tanned... so i am neither black nor white!
@ article: i think all people are prejudicied and as already mentioned, people are not very welcoming when it comes to others who are different from their culture. We enjoy being with those who think, sound and act like us...so, anything different can be unwelcome. I don't like this attitude but i am simply explaining we are full of prejudice and we can be hypocrites!
