UC's racial turmoil a reminder to us all

The University of California system has had a rough couple weeks. First students at the University of California-San Diego held a "Compton Cookout" party to make fun of Black History Month. Then a satirical campus broadcast program used a racial epithet in its description of the party. On February 22nd, a student at UC Irvine wrote a column in the student paper advocating for the elimination of Black History Month. And last Thursday, the straw that broke the camel's back: A student hung a noose in UCSD's main campus library.

According to Leah Finnegan of The Huffington Post, the student responsible for the noose has since been suspended and faces subsequent punishment.

All of these events were decried by faculty and students alike. The New York Times reports UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox detailed measures to improve the campus atmosphere on a Web site, while students occupied the chancellor's office Friday afternoon, chanting and drumming and participating in a debate about race relations. According to the blog Occupy California, students at the University of California-Los Angeles took part in a sit-in to show their support for UCSD.

These events are awful, to be sure, but they are just as eye-opening as they are racist and insensitive. We claim prejudice and discrimination have lessened through the generations, to the extent that today's college-age adults don't even notice race. We are more open to interracial dating and marriage, and most of us wouldn't even think twice before sitting next to a student of a different race in a lecture hall.

Does that mean we are free of negative stereotypes, racial bias and bigotry? Not even close.

As a University of Wisconsin-Madison senior who hasn't left campus for more than one week in four years, I can attest to the sort of racial prejudice percolating below the surface of my school. Before the legendary "Freakfest" Halloween party my freshman year, all of the dorms had to lecture their residents on appropriate and inappropriate Halloween costumes. They didn't show us Powerpoint slides of slutty nurses or a "Dick in a Box" costumes. No, we were shown pictures of gangster costumes, samurai costumes and ranchero costumes. Sitting in the main lounge of my dorm, we were told these costumes would be offensive and hurtful, yet the room filled with laughter at each passing slide. And sure enough, blackface traipses down State Street every Halloween.

The more subtle forms of racism can be found daily: When a girl's Starbucks cup breaks on the way to class, she yells, "These lids are SO ghetto." When a black man walks into the Nitty Gritty bar on a Friday night, drunk and sober alike immediately start guessing what position he plays on the football team.

These instances aren't as severe or negative as hanging a noose or hosting a "Compton Cookout," complete with gold teeth, nappy hair and cheap clothes, but they prove that our generation is far from "beyond race."

UC San Diego's events may have been extreme, but they don't exist in isolation.

Photo Credit: The Associated Press

What it means to be a 'Negro' in 2010

The United States Census Bureau announced earlier this month that it would not remove "Negro" as a race qualification in the 2010 census. Amidst public outcry, the Bay Area News Group reports, the bureau said it would consider removing the term from subsequent surveys.

Why keep the term? The census bureau says many older African Americans identify as "Negro," and removing the term would risk incorrectly counting this group.

Why lose the term? The word "Negro" conjures a time in American history when African Americans were considered subordinate. From Jim Crow and anti-miscegenation laws to the civil rights movement, "Negro" connoted "otherness" at its best and inferiority or inhumanity at its worst. Of course, all racial categories are socially constructed, with no biological basis, but this particular label evokes inequality and oppression.

Many groups within the United States that previously used the term have abandoned it, citing it, in the words of CNN analyst Roland Martin, as "best left where it is" and in the history it stirs up. Among these, reports Slate.com, Negro History Week was changed to Black History Month in 1976. The United Negro College Fund now refers to itself as U.N.C.F, and the Supreme Court has not used the word "Negro" without quotations or citations to outside sources for 25 years.

Time.com reports over 56,000 Americans specifically write-in "Negro" on the U.S. Census. Even so, the census is meant to reflect the changing demographics of the country. In many other ways, the census bureau aims to track these changes. The 2010 U.S. Census will implement 15 changes dealing with race and Hispanic origin. For each of these changes, 30,000 people will be given a slightly different questionnaire. These changes include allowing more than one classification under Hispanic origin and allowing people who identify as "white" or "black" to clarify their ethnic identity more specifically.

Judging by these alterations and the 13 others like them, it seems the census bureau is attuned to the changes taking place in America. The bureau recognizes we do not fall into set boxes. Furthermore, the terminology used to describe different groups, although seemingly innocuous to some, must be examined through a historical lens. Whether subconsciously or not, we internalize these labels and perpetuate the stereotypes and societal roles they propagate. Just because some people are not bothered by a term, or even if some Americans use the term to self-identify, does not mean the use of the word "Negro" in an official government survey carries no weight in the broader scheme.

Think of it this way: How does "Negro" compare to other, perhaps more offensive labels? All these terms evoke history, be it European immigration to the United States, anti-Semitic sentiment or slavery. All of these words are still in use today, some of them by the groups to whom they refer. Does that make them any less hurtful to others? No. The word "Negro" is no different, and the census bureau should see it as such.

Photo Credit: TheGrio.com