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While there was predictable outrage recently over White fraternity
students making a fool of themselves at Auburn University in Alabama and the University of Mississippi, the racially
insensitive incidents raise fundamental questions about what we should be
doing in and out of school to prevent that kind of obnoxious conduct.
The idea that White university students, especially in the era of supposed
racial harmony as a result of the ongoing war in Afghanistan, could think it's
okay to simulate a lynching, wear KKK robes and hold a gun to the head of a
cotton-picking African-American is reprehensible. What's even more
reprehensible is the kind of education and training those students received-
or did not receive-before they set foot on a college campus.
Let's start in the home. In order to foster an atmosphere of acceptance- I
don't use the term "tolerance" because I think people should do
more than merely tolerate one another-every family should read and discuss at
least one book that reviews this country's history. If you're going to read
only one book, my recommendation would be John Hope Franklin's classic
"From Slavery to Freedom." Inasmuch as we live in a visual age, I
also recommend the family watching and discussing the PBS series "Eyes
on the Prize."
There is also plenty of information on the Internet to educate both parents
and students. An excellent place to start is www.tolerance.org, the site
maintained by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala. The site helps one
examine his or her hidden biases, provides tools for fighting hatred, and
gives the history behind many of the derogatory images of Blacks throughout
history.
Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich. maintains a "Jim
Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia" on line at www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/cartoons.
The curator of the site says the cartoons were downloaded this year from
White supremacy sites on the Web. "American Blacks have often been
mocked by the larger society," the curator writes. "This
dehumanizing ridicule was evident in the minstrel shows of the 1800s, cinematic
depictions in the 1900s, and on comedy stages today.
"Despite the gains won during the Black Civil Rights Movement, too many
Americans still laugh at the portrayals of Blacks as physically repulsive,
intellectually inept, morally stunted, and culturally deprived." An important
question was posed: "Why do so many people find these cartoons
funny?"
In some instances, the answer is prejudice. And that's the focus of another
good site, www.prejudiceinstitute.org. The Baltimore-based group produces
special reports and a bimonthly newsletter "dedicated to readers who
actively seek to counter the disinformation that pervades everyday life in an
increasingly diversified society."
The Prejudice Institute's fact sheets on what teenagers can do about
prejudice suggests: work on yourself first; be conscious of your discomfort
or fear around certain types of people; be aware of tendencies you may have
to judge other people, examine whether you equally included people from other
groups in your regular activities, think of different ways to know more
people in other groups and work together with other people to organize new
solutions to the problems of discrimination and ethno-violence.
The idea that White university students, especially in the era of supposed
racial harmony as a result of the ongoing war in Afghanistan, could think it's
okay to simulate a lynching, wear KKK robes and hold a gun to the head of a
cotton-picking African-American is reprehensible. What's even more
reprehensible is the kind of education and training those students received-
or did not receive-before they set foot on a college campus.
Article copyright The Miami Times.
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