The word diversity is indispensible in college pamphlets. Pictures of multicultural friendships permeate across each page in hopes of providing a mirrored image for prospective students. These pictures suggest a promised safe place for young adults of all backgrounds. However, in the instance of San Jose State University, one could argue their actions differ from the pictured proposal. Their main focus became avoiding liability rather than facilitating a safe environment for ethnic difference. This mentality typically reflects a view that claims acts of active racism and blatant bigotry should take the forefront of discussion while their comprising acts of passive racism are left behind. Campus conversations about race are being silenced by colorblind ideologies and a singular word in a pamphlet. Diverse student bodies in higher education are crucial for the facilitation of race dialogue and accurate societal representation. The adopted ideology of liberal colorblindness in universities such as San Jose State is a social regression because it is rooted in the secretive enforcement of dominant racial group mentality, harmful stereotype threat, inadequate societal representation, and deflected responsibility.
San Jose State was the academic and athletic home of Tommie Smith and John Carlos. The campus is adorned with a statue paying tribute to their 1968 Black Power salute at the Olympics - a bold statement on an international platform during a chaotic time in US history race relations. Yet African American students continue to make claims that challenge the university’s progressive façade. The claims mainly went unheard until a recent altercation between one African American student and his mainly White suitemates in university pr...
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...ons of the incoming president failed both parties.
Works Cited
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Tatum, Beverly Daniel. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations about Race. New York: Basic, 1997. Print.
Analysis of Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi and Eyes on the Prize characterize life for African-Americans during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s as full of tension, fear, and violence. Eyes on the Prize is a documentary series that details major figures and events of the movement, while Anne Moody gives a deeply personal autobiographical account of her own experiences as an African American growing up in deeply segregated and racist Mississippi and as a civil rights activist during and after college. These two accounts are very different in their style yet contain countless connections in their events and reflect many ongoing struggles of the movement. These sources provide an excellent basis for discussion of nonviolence versus violence
Integration and the University of Mississippi. Cartoon. New York Times [New York] 30 Sept. 1962: 1.
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She begins her book by giving a scenario of a high school cafeteria in which there is and “identifiable group of Black students sitting together” (para. 1) this scenario is a situation that is witnessed in almost every cafeteria of racially diverse schools across the country. Tatum’s use of the word “we” introduces a conversational and personable tone; this allows the reader to feel more involved in her writing. In addition to Tatum’s tone, she also uses emotionally charged words and repetition to also add to the effectiveness of her book. For example, her use of the words “stereotype” and “segregation”, which both have negative connotations, force the reader to think about the depth of the
Welch, Kelly. 2007. “Black Criminal Stereotypes and Racial Profiling.” Journal of Contemporary Justice 23(3): 276-288 also talks about the discrimination within the courtroom, in the court it has been shown that the prosecutors when fighting a case against the defendant who’s client is Black use their race as an argument to win the case. They try to show how Black people are prone to be violent due to racial factors and therefore should be sentenced harshly. Given the history, unfortunately this argument sets in well and therefore leads to sentencing and prison time for the Black
Similarly, research literature on the experience of women of color college students has placed emphasis on exploring women’s experiences with racism much more than their experiences with sexism. Recent studies have explored racism on college campuses in a variety of ways including, racial discrimination (Chao, Mallinckrodt, & Wei, 2012; Henson, Derlega, Pearson, Ferrer, & Holmes 2013; King, 2005), colorblind ideologies (Coleman, Chapman, & Wang, 2013), racial stereotyping awareness (Johnson-Ahorlu, 2013; Muñoz, & Maldonado, 2012) , typology of racial incidents (Harwood, Huntt, Mendenhall, & Lewis, 2012; Yosso, Smith, Ceja, & Solorzano, 2009) , racialized school spaces (Barajas & Ronnkvist, 2007), and internalized racism (Hipolito-Delgado, 2010). Findings from these studies suggest that a major implication of racism on college campuses is the impact these in...
Solorzano, D., Ceja, M., & Yosso, T. (2000). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate: The experiences of African American college students. Journal of Negro Education, 69(1/2), 60-73.
In order to be competitive in the higher education battleground, some academics believe that it’s essential that universities and colleges give minorities certain plus factors during the admission process. Many universities and colleges throughout the country believe that by instituting some form of affirmative action, the end result will be diversified campus demographics. The type of affirmative action each institution implements is different; however, each has the same goal of increasing minority admissions.
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