Journal #6

The article, “The Cultivation of Racism” talks about racism on college campuses across the nation. It begins by saying that many universities commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. yet universities treat people by their skin color. It goes on to define racism as, “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities.” And says that universities embody racism based on this definition. It then moves on to the example of CSU and how they require intense specifics about ethnicity that no other universities require for acceptance. The author then elaborates and says that CSU encourages racial and ethnic separatism and prejudice. He then brings it back to Dr. King and says that this is not what Dr. King wanted. He concludes with the notion that the harmful outcomes of diversity outweigh the perceived benefits.

            When the article says that those who advocate for diversity are racists because they’re seeing skin tones as black and white and are advocating for a mix of colors rather than personalities this makes sense. However when the article says that universities embody racism just based on a definition I find that hard to follow. The alternative viewpoint to this would be that diversity helps more than hurts universities and their students. I think looking at whether diversity negatively or positively impacts universities would be a good way at approaching my essay.

            I originally planned on approaching the topic as a way of looking at how race or social standing affects minorities at colleges or universities but now I think I might look at whether diversity negatively or positively impacts universities.  However I still think looking at the incidents at Virginia Tech and The University of Alabama would be beneficial because they show the extremes of the effects racial inequality on minorities on college campuses. To further research this I’d have to look into the incidents and get the details on the offenders and their reasonings behind what they did. From there I’ll see how these events connect to diversity on college campuses.