On racism

Any person who's been a student of sociology (or pretends to be - for example, yours truly) will know that the United States is an environment in which there's a lot of debate and discussion, as well as tension on racial matters. As part of the Chinese majority growing up in a country which is by and large racially harmonious, you never really get much exposure to the kind of atmosphere in which this racial tension exists.

Until now.

The events of the past few days have certainly helped to bring some perspective to issues which I think are pretty much entrenched in the American social fabric.

A little background - the centre (or epicentre, if we want to be ostentatious and flamboyant with words whose meaning we aren't able to exactly decipher) of the University grounds (campus) is a place called the Lawn (some would argue otherwise but don't listen to them, because I'm always right). It is, essentially, a lawn (well were you expecting otherwise?). Anyway, it's really a beautiful place and occasionally, people get really drunk and streak across the Lawn. The residences around the Lawn are reserved for the best of the best, the top-notch scholars who get their names etched on their doors. This is because we all know that top scholars don't get any and thus will have to make do with the occasional streaking individual across the lawn.

So one day, one of the residents (who happens to be Afro-American) arrives back to his room. Btw, all the residents at the Lawn have fancy white boards for people to leave messages. Except the message that he receives is "Nigger!" and "I Hate Jesus". Which is, of course, totally uncalled for (particularly since Jesus has a father I wouldn't wanna piss off). This incident circulates around the whole university and here's the part I like the most.

On Monday, it makes the headline news of the University paper. Meanwhile, a silent protest of sorts is staged by various people asking others to wear black to condemn this incident. Although I clearly see no clear consequentialist effect, I thought I'd join in the symbolic gesture, just because I'm not a fan of racism (yellow guys get beaten up in America, it's true). But what really struck me was this: as I went for my classes on Monday, I walked past the lawn and saw that on every door was a piece of paper. The words "I WILL NOT TOLERATE INTOLERANCE" were printed in bold and each of the pieces of paper were customised with the resident's signature. What was most striking was the fact that this appeared on EVERY SINGLE door. I think that the ability to find this kind of solidarity in standing up for a cause is so refreshing, coming from a Singaporean perspective.

Today, though, I had the opportunity to speak with my neighbours. We were discussing about the movie "Crash", which is to be screened sometime in the next 2 weeks. In my opinion, it's a fantastic movie which explores a variety of things related to racist behaviour. In any case, one of the neighbours was discussing about her first-year experience and how in exploring these ideals of preventing racism, there are some things to note. For example, she originally came to university and stayed in a mixed dorm (racially) and at first everyone got on well. It later occurred that some of the racial minorities in her group just happened to group together and do stuff that was, in her own words, unnecessary. For example, they turned off the lights while she was showering (although in all fairness, you don't know if it's necessarily these people - I suppose it's just an example). She didn't want to make a big fuss outta it because she saw the possibilities for misinterpretation, particularly because of the whole racial make-up of that group. But it's certainly food for thought - what do you do when in our zest to eradicate the evils of things such as racism, it overcompensates and becomes something that can be abused?

On a totally separate note, the homework for Spanish is driving me absolutely mad. I just finished something like 10 exercises, but I must have botched up at least 5 of them. Argh. Still, going through Juanes' "A Dios le pido" has certainly taught me a phrase which I actually find most poetic, and probably should teach all the guys who want to charm the pants (or skirts) off the lasses.

"...si me muero sea de amor
y si me enamoro sea de vos"

"If I die, it's for love.
And if I love, it's for you."