Racism and prejudice are way too under-discussed on campus. I’m not even talking about in the classroom. Well, yeah I am. But I’m also talking about people talking to people. Maybe we’re one of the top ten universities for campus diversity, but it’s also so damn clicky around here that most of us barely benefit from that diversity. Let’s get out of our comfort zones until we’re more comfortable. Let’s talk about the bullshit that keeps so many of us voluntarily segregated. [X]press will get the ball rolling for you. We hit the streets, and this is what we heard.

Hear them in their own words with an [X]press Magazine podcast

Chris Williams, 21, dietetics major, Westwood, CA
“I’m not, to some people, even in my own culture, living up to certain expectations. I wear dress slacks and Members Only jackets. And I skateboard, like, as much as I can. Even my own cousins are asking me: ‘what are you doing man?’ Like, you’re not African American if you don’t look a certain way - if you don’t emulate the images you see on television, on BET and other channels like that. It’s really depressing to me actually.”

Beatrice Tesoro, 17, child and adolescent development, San Leandro CA
“I’m Asian, so people expect me to have a certain accent or behave in a certain way, or, like, know certain things. Everyone is prejudice in one way or another. There’s nothing you can do about that, because as human beings we’re all judgmental.”

Briuna Brown, 20, computer science major, Oakland, CA
“I think we all say things that might be a little bit racist. People aren’t as open about it as they were before. Nobody is just going to come out and say that they’re racist. Nobody wants to believe that they’re racist, even if they are.”

Sarah Lunnon, 18, industrial design major, Los Angeles, CA
“If I’m with a group of white people, they can’t really talk how they want to talk…and sometimes words will slip out. It’s hard getting to know people when they put on a censor. There’s a lot of feeling uncomfortable and not knowing where I belong.”

Yuki Nakaishi, international business major, Hiroshima, Japan
“It’s very hard to say what is racism, because whenever somebody does something to you, and you feel bad, you can convert it as racism. It’s very easy. I can say: ‘oh, it’s because I’m Asian. That’s why they said that to me.’ It could just be your personality.”

Alex Nakashima, 19, business major, Sacramento, CA
“Being of mixed race, both Caucasian-German and Japanese, I don’t look Asian. So I find it kind of difficult when I go to, say, Japantown. I don’t really feel accepted. I don’t really think they see me as one of their own or sharing a common background and having that bond. I mean, I’ve lived there and I speak the language.”

Karim Ighit, 27, business major, Lyon, France
“Anywhere you go, you’re going to have to face racism in some degree…I think the U.S. is pretty straightforward. Racism in France is very subtle. It’s very taboo. It comes at you when you least expect it. In the U.S., you have a better sense and feeling of where racism is. You feel it more.”

Allen L., 24 international business major, San Jose, CA
“We’re all the same when we’re first born. What changes us is society. I think people should definitely travel. When you go abroad, that’s when you really get to experience different cultures, see other people and all the struggles. When you see those things, you’re going to feel like: ‘wow the whole time I was hating on these people, but they’re really deep. There’s more to them than what I thought.’”

Enjoy the Podcast:

http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/life/009232.html