My friend and I were singing along to a rap song in the car. I knew the song had the N word in it, so I made sure to stop singing during that part - as a nonblack POC, it’s not my place to sing along. But my friend (also a nonblack POC) sang right along. Shocked, I immediately stopped the music and asked him why he had done that. He responded “Why does it matter? It’s just a song”. I was taken aback by this level of ignorance.
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The other day I was walking past a group of tennis players with my friend who also plays tennis. My friend said to me under his breath "I bet I could beat all of them, they look gay". I thought this was extremely inappropriate and derogatory for my friend to not only assume their sexual preference based on looks but also to assume that this would make them bad at any sport.
I have seen so many people use handicapped parking spaces for idling, waiting on people, or whatever else when they are not handicapped. As someone who is disabled and needs those parking spots, it is horrible that these able-bodied people are using spaces that are supposed to be for people that really need them-it's rude and inconsiderate. You have the privilege of being able-bodied, stop taking resources from those that aren't.
I was leaving the library and watched a car run a stop sign. Luckily no one was crossing the street at the time, so no one was hurt. A student walking near me joked that the driver was probably Asian, clearly finding the stereotype of Asian as bad drivers to be amusing. I told them that their race was irrelevant, and that I was just glad no one was close enough to get hurt. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that people continue to perpetuate racist stereotypes, but I guess I expected better from the students on our campus. CategoriesI overheard a student in the Pitzer dining hall describe a final he had taken by claiming that “I know I did awful, the test was so gay”. Even though I have heard the word ‘gay’ used with negative associations for years now, as a lesbian it certainly bothers me that this phrase persists. People who use ‘gay’ to describe something in a negative fashion only further the association of ‘gay’ as ‘bad’.
In one of my classes last year, we read a novel by a Japanese American author discussing the struggles of Asian Americans in this country. One student insisted that the author’s issues were unfounded, as Asian Americans were ‘more successful than other minorities’. Perpetuating the ‘model minority’ myth is incredibly harmful to Asian Americans; perpetuating the idea that Asian Americans are more academically, economically, and socially successful than other minorities allows white Americans to ignore very real racism Asian Americans face in this country.
I was walking to Pomona’s campus the other day and a car drove past playing loud rap music. A student walking with some friends nearby commented on how the driver should turn down the ‘jungle music’. I was absolutely horrified at the student’s blatant racism, but what’s worse is that his friends all laughed.
The other week my two suitemates were talking about a young black man who had been rude to them. One of them justified his behaviour by saying 'maybe he is just from that part of Africa where that is ok'. He's definitely from America.
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