Racial tensions between black and white students at Jena High School in Jena, La. have peaked in the past year, resulting in several racially-motivated acts of violence. While race relations have improved in the past half-century, this incident illustrates a problem that is often swept under the rug and has no place in multicultural, 21st century America. America, the South in particular, has a stigma of developing a negative perception about an entire group of people based on shallow stereotypes. Whether an individual has the legal right to say or do something is one thing, but should one take into account how his or her actions affect others in the campus community? The University has had its own struggles with race relations this past year after the purple and gold Confederate flag turned Saturday tailgating into a tension-filled conflict. Students have attempted to mend these relations with events such as the Unity step show, where members of both traditionally black and white fraternities stomped together this February. We encourage more events like this so the racial divide that seems as impenetrable as the Berlin wall can be struck down. Scientific studies have reported that all humans are 99.9 percent genetically identical, meaning that physical features such as skin color make up a small difference in our genetic makeup. A general lack of education has resulted in perceived culture gaps that seem almost impossible to bridge. But race should not be ignored either. Since the idea of race is embedded in our society, it has a level of unintentional racism built into its structure. For example, why do blacks represent a disproportionately large amount of people living below the poverty line? Sociological studies have demonstrated that race is a fairly new concept and serves as a false social construction that separates people of different ethnic backgrounds into stratified groups that form an unbalanced social hierarchy. Individuals should accept they have probably developed some type of racial bias, intentionally or unintentionally, and then consciously work to correct that bias. Hopefully our generation is smart enough to have moved past the confrontations of our parents and grandparents.
—Contact the Editorial Board at [email protected]
‘Jena 6’ trial proves racism still exists
June 27, 2007