If he's only going to be in your life for as long as it takes for you to get through his subject, ignore him and move on. You don't need the kind of trouble he can give you on your record.
Do you think that my college professor is a "racist"?
by booker-t 29 Replies latest jw friends
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greendawn
He sounds like a racist, I wonder what he will do if you politely suggest to him that whites also have the problems that he ascribes to other races.
It's too utopic to believe that the white race is perfectly angelic and all bad things are down to other races. -
Mary
But my professor will put down blacks and say that blacks are responsible for the Aids crises, and put down Hispanic women by saying they are ruining the economy with having all of those "babies" and being on "welfare"
Not to be rude, but perhaps you should check the statistics before you yourself start pointing the finger at others. According to the National Vital Statistic Report, in 1999 "..the birthrate for unmarried Hispanic women is the highest of any race or ethnicity group.....In 1999 the percents of out-of-wedlock births were 22 for non-Hispanic white and 42 for Hispanic women."
and he talks about Native Americans being "Alcoholics"
The government statistics clearly show that alcohol abuse is a major problem amongst North American Indians. This is not a "racist" comment----it's there in black and white (no pun intended). I'm not sure what the statistics are in the States, but below are some figures that Health Canada put out on the subject:
Health Canada: Literature Review, Evaluation Strategies in Aboriginal Substance Abuse Programs: A Discussion Online Article 11 Jan. 2006, < http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fnih-spni/pubs/ads/literary_examen_review/rev_rech_1_e.html#I> Alcohol Use: Alcohol consumption has been identified as a major problem in Aboriginal communities, both through research surveys and during the RCAP consultation process. A survey conducted in 57 First Nations communities in Manitoba in 1984-85 used a rating scale from "no problem" to "major problem" to rate mental health problems. Eighty-six percent of the communities rated alcohol abuse as a major or serious problem. Solvent abuse was reported as a major problem in 7% of these communities. An indication of the magnitude of social dysfunction in these communities was suggested by the high percentage of communities reporting other problems as a concern: anxiety (72% a major concern), general violence (70% major), spousal abuse (69% serious or major) and child abuse (51% serious or major).[Rogers, D.D and N. Abas. 1988. "A survey of native mental health needs in Manitoba." Arctic Medical Research, Vol 47(suppl 1), pp. 576-80] The results of the Manitoba survey was substantiated by the 1991 Aboriginal Peoples Survey which found that 73% of Aboriginal persons on reserves and settlements thought that alcohol abuse was a problem in their community. As well, family violence was a problem in 44%, drug abuse in 59% and suicide in 35% of these responses.[Statistics Canada. 1993. Language, Health and Lifestyle Issues: 1991 Aboriginal Peoples Survey, catalogue number 89-533. (Ottawa:Statistics Canada)]
But I never hear him putting down white people. It is a known fact that "more" Caucasians are on welfare then any other race. I used to work in a Welfare office and it is just amazing how many white people get food stamps.
I'm not sure where you got this idea from, but according to the Surgeon's General report: "...African American children and youth constitute about 45% of children in public foster care and more than half of all children waiting to be adopted....
- While representing only 12% of the U.S. population, African Americans make up about 40% of the homeless population.
- People who are incarcerated. Nearly half of all prisoners in State and Federal jurisdictions and almost 40% of juveniles in legal custody are African Americans.
As for the Aids crises when Aids first came out it was believed to be a "gay white man's" disease. Then lo and behold it is now labeled a "black" problem.
While Aids is everyone's problem, it's common knowledge that it began in Africa and the latest statistics show that approximately 70% of Africans are infected with the HIV virus.
For interest sake here's a quote from Times Magazine, By Christine Gorman Spring 1998 on the subject:
A new study of the oldest known HIV suggests the virus jumped from animals to humans in the 1940s. The year was 1959, location: The central African city of Leopoldville, now called Kinshasa, shortly before the waves of violent rebellion that followed the liberation of the Belgian Congo. A seemingly healthy man walked into a hospital clinic to give blood for a Western backed study of blood diseases. He walked away and was never heard from again. Doctors analyzed his sample, froze it in a test tube and forgot about it. A quarter-century later, in the mid-1980s, researchers studying the growing AIDS epidemic took a second look at the blood and discovered that it contained HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Socialogist have said over and over that more crimes against white people are by other white people. Such as rape. So there goes the myth that white women are being raped by black men.
I would hate for you to go away with such a misguided perseption that this is just a myth:
When whites commit violence, they to it to blacks 2.4 percent of the time. Blacks, on the other hand, choose white victims more than half the time-------What Should Be Done," US News & World Report (August 22, 1989), p. 54. See also Department of Justice, Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1987 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989), p.7. In those cases in which the race of the killer is known, blacks kill twice as many whites as whites kill blacks. Black-on-white robberies and gang assaults are twenty-one times more common than white on black. In the case of gang robbery, blacks victimize whites fifty-two times more often than whites do blacks------Department of Justice, Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1987 In a 1974 study in Denver, 40 percent of all rapes were of whites by blacks, and not one case of white-on-black rape was found. In general, through the 1970s, black-on-white rape was at least ten times more common that white-on-black rape-----Gary D. LaFree, "Male Power and Female Victimization: Toward a Theory of Interracial Rape," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 88, No. 2 (September 1982). The FBI keeps very detailed national records on crime, but the way it presents rape data obscures the racial element rather than clarifies it. Dr. William Wilbanks, a criminologist at Florida International University, had to sift carefully through the data to find that in 1988 there were 9,406 cases of black-on-white rape and fewer than ten cases of white-on-black rape----William Wilbanks, "Frequency and Nature of Interracial Crimes," submitted for publication to the Justice Professional (November 7, 1990). Data derived from Department of Justice, Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1987, p. 53. Interracial crime figures are even worse than they sound. Since there are more than six times as many whites as blacks in America, it means that any given black person is vastly more likely to commit a crime against a white than vice versa.
While your professor's comments could be said with more tact, your comments on the same subject could certainly be viewed as "racist" as well. Whenever someone who's white points out an obvious problem within a visible minority group, they're labelled as a "racist", even if they have the data to back up what they're saying. Remember a couple of years ago when Bill Cosby lashed out at the black community for having too many babies out of wedlock, for having the highest ratio of people in prison in the USA? Did anyone deem him a racist? Of course not, but if a white man had gotten up there and said the same thing, you would have heard people screaming "racist!" from New York to LA.
If your professor's comments are bothering you that much, I would suggest you either try having a private talk with him about your feelings or drop out of his class.
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ColdRedRain
Depends on how he said it too. If he said "Black people are inferior and they're inclined to rob people and be noisy due to their race." or "Native Americans only like to get drunk, no matter how hard they try." then yes, he's being racist.
However, if he says something like "The black community, especially in America are violent and the culture doesn't try hard enough to discourage certian vices in the community." or "The Native American culture doesn't want to control their alcoholic problems." It's not racism. It's social commentary on the culture.
Like it or not, alcoholism is a horrible and blight-filled part of Native society, the African-American community tends to glorify violence and doesn't glorify intellectualism, also they discourage assimilation into mainstream American culture and many, not all, not a majority or not even a large plurality of hispanic women have children out of wedlock and milk the welfare system. (I know alot of hard working Hispanics and I would gladly exchange identities with them so they can be good assets to our country).
But commentary on those horrible social habits should be made. But it should be made where it's not an ad hominem on a group of people, but rather an actual commentary.
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trevor
'Racist’ is just a label. It is often used by minority groups who want to stop majority groups putting across their point of view. We all have out hangups and I feel that we should be free to vent our feelings, we can then be challenged and debate follows.
It is through debate that progress is made and opinion are changed. Once censorship is used to make people afraid of speaking their mind the balance in society is lost and people in power are able to manipulate the population. Government is seeking to do this now and unless we resist and insist on open and frank debate about issues that concern us, our freedoms will be lost. We had a belly-full of that in the Jehovah’s Witnesses cult.
Let the teacher rant, then discuss his views with him. Either he is right or wrong or most likely somewhere in between. He probably enjoys the challenge of defending his views. He will benefit from open debate and so will those that get things out in the open and see it through.
That is what real education is all about.
Edited twice due to a superb Rioja!
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John Doe
Sounds like a real ahole. However, learning that professors are simply people with opinions like everyone else is one of the hardest lessons. You did well by approaching him--I think that's the best way to address your concerns. If he won't discuss it or simply belittles you, move on. It's not worth your time. The black fiance proves nothing, though. Remember that many slaves were impregnated by their masters.
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MsMcDucket
Food for Thought For every statistic that was given by, Mary, there's another statistic. You've got to find out who's backing the research. Also, remember the Reliability of statistics:
In statistics reliability is the consistency of a set of measurements or measuring instrument. Reliability does not imply validity . That is, a reliable measure is measuring something consistently, but not necessarily what it is supposed to be measuring. For example, while there are many reliable tests, not all of them would validly predict job performance.
AKA: Don't believe everything you read or just because it's written doesn't mean it's true.
Remember that there are many people believe that AIDS was brought here by Christopher Columbus.
My twin daughters use to be certified AIDS instructors one of their teachers, Dr. Donna Sweet, is well-known throughout the world for her treatment of AIDS patients (look her up). She told the twins noone can really say where AIDS started. She, also, is the one who told the twins about the "Christopher Columbus Concept". The girls would go from high school to high school teaching AIDS Awareness. The name of the program was "Teen's Hope".
Just thought I'd put that there to add a little validity to my points. -
G Money
Everyone is entitled to his opinion. Don't be the thought police and just toughen up. In the real world you can't run to mom and say make him stop talking. If he is a racist, everyone knows it. Who really cares?
Mary had some good points.
Don't be looking under every rock for a racist. I have people tell me f'ing beaners when they talk about immigration issues and the bad things Mexicans do and they have no clue of my background. I'm not an overly sensetive person. I don't really care. -
MsMcDucket
My sociology instructor was so much easier to take. I had a black sociology instructor. Oh, I know how you feel! Man, I was majoring in health related stuff. In college, they pretty much told me that blacks started or suffered from everything. When I got out of school, I thought that ALL my patients were going to be black. Man, was I wrong! You see, there are not very many blacks in America, and where I live the ratio of whites to blacks is WAY bigger. So, I have more white patients than black.
Even if it's true that more blacks suffer from AIDS, and more hispanics have children out of wedlock, and that more indians are alcoholics...The ratio is what you're going to be dealing with!
Edited to add: We (blacks, indians, hispanics) are the minority. Minority means: 1. smaller group: a group of people or things that is a small part of a much larger group.
Remember that. It will help you to put things into perspective.
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MsMcDucket
Mary, you're going to have to get some updated scholarly journals. Those reports are older than sin! Here's a place where you can get updated information: http://search.epnet.com/ If you are in college, you'll have free access to the site. You may have to get the passwords from the college librarian or the instructor.