The tidal wave of racism reemerged at the beginning of this year and has yet to break along the reef of disregard. Media outlets now hone in on every racial occurrence such as Paula Deen’s and Riley Cooper’s use of racial slurs. GSU’s first ever White Student Union is receiving a lot of attention as well.
But how does prejudice in America affect students at GSU?
We’ve always been known to be multicultural. Our campus is a melting pot of more than races and ethnicities but a blend of social groups with different likes, interest, and hobbies. We’ve all found a sense of belonging.
However, a new school year means a new beginning. Will the mindset of not only our incoming freshmen, but current students be altered after the events that have taken place this summer? Will friendships be parted or harder to sustain between two people of different backgrounds? Will events such as Zimmerman’s acquittal in the Trayvon Martin case have an impact on student interaction at Georgia State University?
In a class I took a few semesters ago, the professor asked “does racism still exist?” Well, let’s consider this question first. This was one of the few classes I actually liked participating in. This was mostly in part because I wanted to seem intellectual to impress the girl I typically sat by but also because few others in the class made reasonable but comical arguments worth entertaining.
I shot my hand up and responded, “Yes! Because race is the first thing you notice when you see somebody.”
My answer clearly offended one of my classmates. She eagerly turned in my direction and asked “what do you think I am when you look at me?”
Now, it was and still is obvious of what race this female classmate belongs to. Still, I could sense a set up in the way she proposed the question but I couldn’t identify what. The flirt in me wanted to respond with a witty compliment, but I refrained from doing so.
Anyways, after my moment’s hesitation, the girl with white skin proclaimed she was from South Africa, thus making her South African.
I could feel her tensions and didn’t wish to engage in an argument where her personal feelings were involved; it might have hindered a later opportunity to establish a more proper relationship.
So, I let her have the last word and didn’t bother to correct the professor when she agreed alongside the student and said “well, that makes her race South African.”
Though she is indeed from South Africa, my vision was not inaccurate. She is still of European descent. Her being a white means my observation was correct.”
I say all that, to say this: Race isn’t invisible and I as well as anyone else can so easily identify one’s race. But prejudice and bias can be invisible and it is because of this that racism does still exist.
Rather than allowing it to secretly congregate and organize beneath the surface, hiding beneath smiles, let’s identify it or we will never be triumphant in the face of the afflictions set before us, intent on keeping us separated.
