Researchers have noted the increasingly obvious fact that racism is alive and well in the US. One problem is that as young Americans increasingly embrace values supporting tolerance and equality their own practice of racism has just become more covert – convincing them that they are colorblind – while leaving racism intact. Professor Rawls has found that the belief in colorblindness hides unacknowledged “tacit” racism, which seems to be on the increase. In 1992 Professor Rawls began doing research on “Interaction Orders of Race” – the ways in which different assumptions about what it is appropriate to do and say in interaction – get in the way of communication and friendship between races.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/0735-2751.00097/abstract
Since coming to Bentley University she has focused on the collection of observations of the many different ways racism manifests on campus and in the everyday lives of students and ordinary citizens.
Recent attention to racial incidents on college campuses like the University of Missouri (Fall 2015), and Boston Latin (Spring 2016), call attention to overt instances of name calling, swastikas (made with feces) and other obvious, overt and public instances of racism. The general impression seems to be that these incidents are few and that the problem can be resolved administratively. At Missouri four or five incidents were highlighted; at Boston Latin seven were incidents were specified.
Professor Rawls argues that the extent to which racism exists in practice is being misrepresented – such explicit racial incidents represent only the tip of the iceberg. The many observations she has collected make evident that all students – black and white – live in an environment where it is the norm for “majority” students to engage in racist talk and to expect other white students who are present to appreciate this talk and join in. This means that white students overhear, and are subjected to racist jokes, language, statements, and complaints about minority students on a daily basis.
It is not just about the ”N” word. White students trying to study quietly in dorm rooms, or at a common room table, are subjected to racist talk by other white students who want appreciation of their racist jokes and comments; and who will not stop when asked to stop. White students who take a stand can find themselves in the position of being called racist because they have questioned the statements of fellow students – a common defensive strategy evident in many of the observations.
White students are being subjected to fairly constant “racist pollution”. Peer pressure to engage with others in racist “banter” is constant. Yik, Yak, Twitter and Facebook posts add to the constancy of the experience. It is not surprising that a kind of tacit/subconscious racism is increasing as all of this seeps into the brain while college students study in their rooms, eat in the cafeteria and walk around campus.
In an effort to help people see what is going on hundreds of observations of racism have been collected and this website will begin posting selected observations soon – and invite additional observations.
Student performances of their experiences are planned, parts of which will be made available in video form, and the possibility of a student discussion board of some type is being considered.