“Black college students do not have the “where-with-all” to score an average or higher-than- average test score!

By “where-with-all” I mean GENETIC HERETARY BACKROUND .

“Black college students do not have the “where-with-all” to score an average or higher-than- average test score!

By “where-with-all” I mean GENETIC HERETARY BACKROUND .

Tara´s last blog post..10 things I say ALL THE TIME

Tara´s last blog post..10 things I say ALL THE TIME

Referring again to Shereen’s statement, “How is she most likely to see women of her skin colour in the media? Half dressed, and grinding around some blinged-out guy’s crotch.” I said above that I find this sort of thing more insidious than the KKK. I mean to say the KKK and other hate groups, perhaps even more than some of the larger-scale racism that used to exist everywhere and now exists less frequently and behind closed doors such as that boss who never hires minorities. I find the every day culture is indeed overwhelmed with negative images of minorities. Sometimes they originate from the majority, but not always.

I wonder about the men and women who make the types of music videos to which Shereen referred, if they think about the stereotypes they are perpetuating. That affects not only the mindset of the majority, but the minority as well. While not a cause of the core issue of racism, such things certainly play a role by defining the limits of what is acceptable and expected behavior, both from and towards minorities.

I hope we are able to address and squash those things. However, there are those other issues that I believe Mr. Raspberry addresses, those situations for which there are two equally viable interpretations. In the absence of previous experience to guide me or evidence to the contrary, I choose to believe the interpretation that does not include racism. Some may say I am simply burying my head in the sand or that I have that luxury because I am not affected. Perhaps, but I would argue that the side of me who looks at two equally viable interpretations and consistently chooses the negative one is the same one that will ingest some of that negativity and carry it with me. Not to be too cheesy, but a song lyric I like is similar to something my grandmother used to tell me. “Hate in your heart will consume you too.”

Referring again to Shereen’s statement, “How is she most likely to see women of her skin colour in the media? Half dressed, and grinding around some blinged-out guy’s crotch.” I said above that I find this sort of thing more insidious than the KKK. I mean to say the KKK and other hate groups, perhaps even more than some of the larger-scale racism that used to exist everywhere and now exists less frequently and behind closed doors such as that boss who never hires minorities. I find the every day culture is indeed overwhelmed with negative images of minorities. Sometimes they originate from the majority, but not always.

I wonder about the men and women who make the types of music videos to which Shereen referred, if they think about the stereotypes they are perpetuating. That affects not only the mindset of the majority, but the minority as well. While not a cause of the core issue of racism, such things certainly play a role by defining the limits of what is acceptable and expected behavior, both from and towards minorities.

I hope we are able to address and squash those things. However, there are those other issues that I believe Mr. Raspberry addresses, those situations for which there are two equally viable interpretations. In the absence of previous experience to guide me or evidence to the contrary, I choose to believe the interpretation that does not include racism. Some may say I am simply burying my head in the sand or that I have that luxury because I am not affected. Perhaps, but I would argue that the side of me who looks at two equally viable interpretations and consistently chooses the negative one is the same one that will ingest some of that negativity and carry it with me. Not to be too cheesy, but a song lyric I like is similar to something my grandmother used to tell me. “Hate in your heart will consume you too.”