For my final civic issues blog, I am going to take a step back and reflect on my topic from a personal perspective. In my opinion, racism is one of the biggest underlying factors of multiculturalism. I am taking PLSC 014 this semester, which is International Politics. For the past few weeks we have been discussing racism and its place in national and world politics. As we’ve discussed these issues, I’ve thought a lot about myself and my place in this puzzle.
I grew up in the small, rural town of Montrose in northeastern Pennsylvania. While Montrose itself has many well-off and successful professionals and business people, my county could be considered a hick country (if that were a term). My high school was the definition of homogenous. I can count on one hand the number of African-American students enrolled at Montrose High School. The Asian-American population was nonexistent and the Mexican-American and Hispanic populations were miniscule as well. These factors created an interesting atmosphere. Many people were extremely racist. It was easy to create stereotypes about people that you did not interact with. On the contrary, many people were very tolerant because they had had no experiences with people and therefore, no opinions to base stereotypes off of.
One of the things I looked at when considering colleges was the diversity factor. I wanted a university where I could meet and interact with people whose cultures, religions, beliefs and customs were different from mine. Here at Penn State and particularly in the Honors College, I feel like I have done this and I have enjoyed doing this. Some of closest friends are Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, and Iraqi. This is something I never could have achieved in Montrose.
Obviously, I don’t consider myself to be a racist. Most of us don’t. However, one of the documents I read recently for my PLSC class focused on this issue. They found that college students across America answered race-related questions very differently on surveys as they did in person. The trend was the in-person responses were much more racist and intolerant.
Because this article related directly to college students, it really got me thinking. Where did I fit into this? Am I a racist? Yes, I have whose skin is a different color than mine. But do I view them as equals? Do I consider their beliefs as legitimate as my own? I’d like to believe the answer to these questions is yes, but after reading the interview responses of the students in the document, I’m not sure.
After thinking about my personal connection to this issue, I began to broaden my considerations and assess Penn State as a whole. Is racism an issue on campus?
Personally, I don’t see racism. I don’t hear people make rude comments. I don’t see people discriminating against others because of their ethnicity. However, one of the other documents I read for PLSC 014 got me thinking. Bonilla-Silva and Forman make the point that in today’s society, many people think that racism is only an issue because people are hypersensitive. They also suggest that racism is less overt today, and therefore, it is harder to measure and see. I would have to agree with this statement. I can’t think of the last time I saw or heard an example of racism in person.
However, I believe racism is still very alive. Bonilla-Silva and Forman point out that despite peoples’ beliefs that they are tolerant or accepting of other people of other ethnicities, their actions do not reflect this. For example, students in their study answered in favor of interracial marriages, equal job opportunities, etc. Yet most of these students admitted to not having any African-American friends or the they would not marry interracially, despite “not being a racist.” One student realized her own racism and explained how she was trained to do it.
“When I walk down the street at night . . . by myself, and I meet a White guy on the street, I’m not as scared as if I meet a Black guy on the street. I keep telling myself that’s stupid, but . . . that’s how I’ve been trained.”
Racism is still alive, despite being less apparent today than it has been in the past. Each one of us needs to do some self-evaluating and figure out where we stand on this issue. No one wants to believe that they are racist. But we must each evaluate our own beliefs and put an end to this new racism. Thanks to this blog and my readings from my PLSC class, I know I have reassessed my views.
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