The other day I was sitting in my sociology class, and my professor asked the entire class two questions. The first question she asked was, “Do you all believe that women in America are still being oppressed?” Most of the class quietly said no, and very few people said yes. She then asked us another question: “Do you think racism still exists in our society?” and without hesitation the whole class said yes. Some even laughed like it was a rhetorical question, and the answer was obvious.
I was left wondering how Americans, my peers, people I am sitting next to—something I would never have been able to do 50 years ago—can believe racism doesn’t exist today. Haven’t we come a long way? We have come far enough to elect a bi-racial President. Some progress has been made, but apparently not enough to fool my peers. It seems as though we have a couple more mountains to climb before America can be officially proclaimed a nation that accepts all people.
Being on a large campus like N.C. State, which is a predominantly Caucasian institute, I found it welcoming when I discovered the diversity on our campus. Everywhere I looked there seemed to be someone of a different ethnicity. I was not expecting such diversity.
That being said, it is wonderful our University is always trying to include every different background in order for everyone to feel accepted and welcomed. Yet, I still find flaws on the campus that are hard to overlook.
As an African American, there have been difficult points in classes when I am outnumbered by the Caucasians in the room, but this has never phased me. What gets to me more is when there is a room full of students, and the seat next to me remains empty until someone is forced to sit next to me. It’s as though they are scared of me or any other seat in the room would be better than next to the “black girl.”
I didn’t notice such behavior until it continued happening over and over. At first I just thought they didn’t want to squeeze down the aisle to get the last seat, but once I added my race in the equation, I started to think otherwise. I am willing to admit my assumption could be completely wrong or misguided, but something in me believes there is still racism on this campus.
This is what I have come to realize: Just because you put people in a diverse setting does not mean they will change their ways of thinking. If anything, the environment will probably force them to turn more toward their own racial group to feel comfort.
Although our university is home to nearly 35,000 students, you rarely find groups of friends who contain several different races. You can observe this all over campus in the Atrium, the gymnasium or the dining halls. We have a horrible tendency to stick to “our own kind.”
We’ve come so far, yet are still segregated. No, there are not separate dining facilities anymore or different sport teams for each race, but there might as well be. Unless something drastic is done to bring this to attention not only our student body but all of America—we will sit there, content as ever, as though no changes need to be made within our society.
