As I flipped through the channels of my television the other day, I saw a scene on CNN that made my mouth drop open in utter disbelief.

But it wasn’t a soldier holding a weapon in Iraq or a crying face from the earthquake in Asia. Instead, it was the sight of an elderly black man being beaten to a bloody pulp by police officers in the French Quarter of New Orleans.      

The officers claimed the man was intoxicated and trying to batter another police officer, but this still does not explain why roughly three or four officers had to beat a 64-year-old man, who also claimed he was not inebriated so relentlessly. So as I continued to watch, I couldn’t help but think, “Is this really still happening in 2005?”

However, my thoughts went to this campus and the race relations here, and I came up with one simple answer. Yes.

In the two years since I have been here, I have experienced and witnessed racism from other students. But it is not always as blatant as it was in the late 1960s and ’70s. Sometimes it is subtle, but never any less powerful and definitely never any less hurtful.

This campus seems to be divided in sections. Every now and then, you might see a couple of different races mingling, but for the most part you either see a group of white students together and a group of black students together. Even foreign students stay in a group of their own.

Yet, while a lot of students use the excuse that people just have the tendency to gravitate towards those who are “similar” to them, the fact still remains that this is promoting racism in our country and school. Just because two people happen to have the same skin color does not mean they are similar in any way other than their physical attributes.

There are hundreds of students who walk around this campus that could possibly be the best of friends or companions if they only opened themselves up to someone of an opposite race. Why must you stand off from a person or not speak to a person just because of their skin? Unless childbirth changed, no one is allowed to choose their race.

On the other hand, there are students who mingle with other races and then forget to mingle with their own. It is as if they feel that because another race has accepted them, they are afraid to portray qualities or be a part of their heritage. But if you feel losing yourself is the only way to be their friend, is it really worth it?

In order for incidents like the one in New Orleans to stop occurring, we must stop the problem now, as young adults. Although you may feel you are totally different from another race, you must realize that diversity is what makes this country beautiful. We have the opportunity to experience different people and cultures freely every day.

We must learn to accept the similarities with the differences of others. If we can do this, we can single-handedly change the direction of society. So maybe when your children are in college, they won’t have to turn this same channel.

 

Brittany Wall is a junior journalism major from Jackson, Miss., and serves as news editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to bgw003@latech.edu.