Whiteness Forum Explores Racism’s Many Faces

<figure id="attachment_10215" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-10215" style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/dreama.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-10215" title="dreama" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/dreama.jpg" alt="" width="360" height="202" srcset="https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/dreama… 360w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/dreama-… 300w" sizes="(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-10215" class="wp-caption-text">Dr. Dreama Moon and CSUSM students at “Whiteness Forum.” Photo: Mark R. Day</figcaption></figure>
    It looked like a campus job fair, complete with table displays and colorful booths. But instead of students searching out job prospects, the buzz at the student commons at Cal State San Marcos was about something else—racism.
    Faculty members mingled with students recently at the annual Whiteness Forum, sponsored by the CSUSM Communication Department. The gathering is the brainchild of Dr. Dream Moon, whose Communication of Whiteness class attracts a growing number of students every semester.
    One display dealt with the growing problem of campus hate speech, especially hate graffiti. “Kill  n——s, Kill Mexicans and gays. Kill all illegals,” was one of several such epitaphs found on campus walls last year. 
    The First Amendment allows certain forms of hate speech, but the graffiti is something different, said the students in charge of the table. The goal is to get a campus resolution to regulate these overt forms of hate speech.
    Newspaper and internet blogs often host hateful, offensive and violent speech. In response to an AP report (Dec. 25) about the killing of an American in Mexico, a blogger wrote: “Let’s pull all the troops out of the Middle East …and send them to the Mexican border. Then kill everything for 500 miles south. Northern Mexico would make a great 51st state.”
    And in response to an AP report (also Dec. 25) about the alleged marital infidelity of Alderman Jesse Jackson, Jr. in Chicago, another blogger wrote:  “Blacks will always vote for blacks, especially if they have been arrested or had kids with other women. It’s a badge of honor.”
    A steady stream of such nasty blogs recently led editor Kent Davy of the North County (San Diego) Times to insist that beginning in January, 2011 all bloggers will have to register and use their real names. This decision provoked a torrent of slurs and insults from disgruntled bloggers.
    Back at CSUSM, another table display underscored the failings of the U.S. criminal justice system. “It starts with racial profiling,” said communication student Erin Brostos.  “It goes on from there. Whites get out of going to jail and receive probation far more easily than people of color. And blacks and Latinos are far more likely to end up on death row than whites.
    Yet another table focused on how people of color internalize their own oppression. “Depending on what neighborhood or zip code you live in will often determine whether or not you will be able to go to college,” remarked one of the student moderators. Only by through personal and social struggle can these obstacles be overcome, he said. “But first they need to be acknowledged.”
    Other student displays focused on race and employment practices, advertising, and the beauty industry. At the display “Dying to be White,” a female student said that women with European features are the models of choice. “All this is related to people’s concept of whiteness, eugenics, and the doctrine of Manifest Destiny,” she added.
    What can be done to reverse these racist attitudes?  The student display, “Interracial Alliances,” offered some suggestions. “On an individual level, whites need to examine our beliefs and prejudices,” said a female student. “We need to move beyond guilt, shame and defensiveness. Only then can the healing take place.”
    Once this critical awareness takes place, students are urged to develop skills to deal with offensive remarks and policies that foster oppression.
    “Listen to the stories of the oppressed. And when you hear a racist joke, let the person know it is offensive,” said a student moderator. “Spread the word. It starts with individuals, but we need groups of people and alliances in order to change things.”
    “All semester long, the students have been looking at the ideology of white supremacy and white domination,” said Dr. Dream Moon. “Now they are trying to show how all this unfolds in everything from politics to every day discourse. In one way or another the forum enlightens and educates those who stop by and engage with the student moderators.”

Whiteness Forum Explores Racism’s Many Faces

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