Campus racism rising
Panel studies causes and solutions
By Debbie Roberts
Olthu BmtraU
"Negros (sic) have spent a lot of money in
the past to buy anything to make their skin
whiter and we all know if a machine were
Invented tomorrow that could make you com
pletely white you would all run to be white
you people are good atheletes (sic) and can
run like the wind, I see you jogging all over
town. But the reason negros (sic) strongly
support Gun control is you know we cant run
but we can shoot and if all the guns are gone
the fastest and strongest could survive best.
Viva Reagan Viva Gund (sic) and where are you
now marcus (sic) Garvey."
Last spring term, the University’s Black
Student Union received this letter in the mail.
The full-page letter, typed on notebook
paper, extolled racism with
such additional comments as
“99 and nine-tenths percent
of all Negroes want to be on
some government program,"
and “99 44 percent of all Ne
gro females are poorly built."
BSU director Vinscon
Green says he has “no idea"
about the letter's origin
"There was no return address, no name — just
the letter," Green says.
Racism is on the rise and becoming more
"obvious" say many University community
members
The Jewish Student Union recently dis
covered a swastika painted on a poster beside
a sign welcoming all Jewish students to the
Union, says Alan Contreras, acting ASUO
executive vice president and a student
member of the newly formed University task
force on racism
The forming of the task force was prompted
by increasing racist graffiti, jokes and a direct
confrontation, off-campus, between a black
student and a "white man with a knife who
claimed to be a member of the Klan," says
English professor Ed Coleman, who is also a
member of the task force
"The situation is already out of hand," he
adds "There's already more racism than any
of us want to see "
"Open” racism is not rare and has become
more frequent within the last 1 Vi years,
Coleman says. He also blames the Reagan
Administration's lack of support for minority
groups, saying that Pres. Reagan's stance is
"giving license to this kind of behavior.”
Leon Jordan of the University affirmative
action office agrees with Coleman that many
people believe the present administration
seems to have given racism a "green light.”
"Racism wasn’t seen two years ago,
because it wasn’t cool,” he says.
Jordan also says that he thinks racism has a
"direct correlation with the tightening of the
economy” and many people see Affirmative
Action as "taking food out of the white males’
mouths.”
Racism falls into two categories — “lower
class verbal and physical abuse and upper
class tendency to tell racial jokes," Jordan
says
To many people, the racial
jokes, the subtle racism, can
be more of a problem than
physical abuse
One member of the BSU
cites "walking down the
street and being called nig
ger' from a passing car" as a
minor form of discrimination.
“Sometimes I feel ignored in my dormitory,”
says a member of the Chinese Student Union.
Another member of the task force, psy
chology Prof. Myron Rothbart, stresses “peer
responsiveness” as an important factor in
stopping racism.
Both Rothbart and Coleman believe that the
task force can be used to educate the com
munity about what can be done to stop racism.
"We can try to get as much information as
possible to students and faculty,” Coleman
says. "People have to know University policies
and state laws against racial harassment.”
Jordan says he thinks educating people
about racism must include helping them to
understand "minorities aren't any different as
a group, but as individuals.-'
"There's a tremendous burden for minorities
to be better than the average human,” he says.
Minorities have a need to tell people, "I am
an individual, not the exception to the rule,”
Jordan says.
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