I’ve been in quite a few college-community discussions about finding solutions to the problem of racist stereotyping. I’ve even facilitated some. One point that frequently comes up is the role of the university. It goes like this: “We need to educate people so that they are aware of their biases. It is our role as a place for higher learning to foster people’s racial consciousnesses so that they will turn away from racist thinking”
If only life were so simple. Based on my experiences in college, I would have been lucky to find bigoted people who actually wanted to learn, who had an attitude conducive to anti-racist education. The idea that we can change racist behaviors is predicated on the assumption that people will want to change. People get their pride wrapped up in racism. They are proud to “stand up to the liberal agenda.” They are smug with their ignorance. Racism makes them feel strong instead of weak, confident instead of uncertain, comfortable instead of uncomfortable, bound to a familiar community rather than alone and alienated. How can we expect those people who have made up their minds on the matter of race, people who most desperately need these kinds of interventions, to benefit in any way from a single-minded appeal to education?
If only life were so simple. Based on my experiences in college, I would have been lucky to find bigoted people who actually wanted to learn, who had an attitude conducive to anti-racist education. The idea that we can change racist behaviors is predicated on the assumption that people will want to change. People get their pride wrapped up in racism. They are proud to “stand up to the liberal agenda.” They are smug with their ignorance. Racism makes them feel strong instead of weak, confident instead of uncertain, comfortable instead of uncomfortable, bound to a familiar community rather than alone and alienated. How can we expect those people who have made up their minds on the matter of race, people who most desperately need these kinds of interventions, to benefit in any way from a single-minded appeal to education?