After reading Harper and Huarto's The Nine Themes of Racial Climate I was not that surprised that the climate on campus remains segregated! The fact that minority students fight for respect in the classroom to prove that they are not there because of a possible diversity initiative by the university forces those groups to migrate to one another. When you sit in a classroom and you don't see anyone that looks like to or had a similar upbringing you need to find times when you can just relax and communicate with students that are like you. In the reading why would it surprise anyone that white students in general don't have a problem with race on a majority campus? They don't have to conform to anyone. They look like the professors and the administrators. They have the same opportunities that generations before them have. At Mason, I will say that when I walk into the JC I think that we have a little segregation happening, but in some cases I see people of all colors sitting together. However, when I go to the library or study facilities, I notice the students become extremely segregated. This again is due to comfort levels and the need not to have to conform in order to complete the task at hand (an education).
In Toby Jenkins article Patriotism: A Love Story confirmed that as a member of the minority, I was intended to be groomed a quiet participant in society! Don't rock the boat! Play the game! That all changed when I attended Hampton University (an HBCU)! I become more confident in my skin and learned that strategic rebellion helps stimulate learning and understanding. I don't ever want to be deemed the "agree black man" but I do want to be respected. If that means I need to protest or speak up when an injustice has happened, then as long as I do it in a peaceful manner that I hope and believe that the person in which I am trying to educate will listen. That is the burden in which minorities carry. What I got out of Patriotism: A Love Story is that if you consider yourself a patriot and you love your country, then you should love everyone in it and make sure that everyone has the same opportunity for love, health, prosperity and happiness. Yes these are all propagated on choices, but if you are a patriot then make sure everyone has choices!
When reviewing the chronicles of University of Florida and Penn State University I was blown away on how recent everything still is as it pertains to the advancement of minorities in higher education. I was also reminded as to how things have not changed much since we began enrolling in universities in the late 1800's. We still receive hate mail! We still are ostracized at majority institutions! We still don't feel as though we fit in.
African Americans are 13% of the total U.S. population, it does not surprise me that we populate that much or most of the time less than that at any majority college or university. This is due to more reasons that admissions policies and campus social behaviors!
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