For this month’s article, I thought I’d include an email I recently sent to a professor in regards to her problematic class culture. This is an example of a message I wish I had the energy to send to each person who has fucked with me: professors, students, community members and all.

Here’s the email in quotes, and added GIFs for your viewing pleasure.

“Dear Professor XXXXX

As you know, I dropped your class. I think it’s important you know the reasons why I left the class, because these experiences fall into a similar pattern of instances I’ve experienced in the English department, and the university as a whole (not to mention my daily life).

Your last email to me posed a question: “How can we make discussions more engaging?”

Although I am not in your class anymore, the reasons why I dropped answer this question. I don’t think it’s necessarily my responsibility to figure out ways to make class more engaging as a student, and moreover as a student of color at a predominantly white institution, but here are some suggestions nonetheless.

1) Take the time to learn the correct pronunciations of your students’ names

You asked me at least three times within the first two weeks of class how to pronounce my name my name, and each time I told you how, and you proceeded to pronounce my name in a completely different Americanized way.

The unmistakable difference between the pronunciations confused me. I didn’t understand how you seemingly did not notice the difference, even though I frequently said “that’s not what I said,” after you incorrectly said my name. I never introduced myself to you as “tan-vee” and didn’t understand why you couldn’t hear a difference in the way I said my name and you said my name.

Perhaps I would have felt more engaged in discussion if you had given me a base level of respect by saying my name correctly, or at least asking me to repeat my name so you could learn to say it properly.

2) Acknowledge difference

When I included in my discussion post that I felt tired of unrecognizable bible references, and you began class the next day with a passive aggressive “look it up,” I interpreted that response as a signal that you think my unfamiliarity with the bible is a coincidence, like not knowing French, or not knowing ballet: as if my brownness has nothing to do with my frustration and unfamiliarity with a Judeo-Christian dominated canon that your class perpetuated.

Telling a nonwhite non-Christian student to just “look up” bible references completely ignores that obviously this country prioritizes narratives by and about Judeo-Christian followers in such a diverse place.

Also, calling your class “American Literature” and only including 2 authors of color is a serious misrepresentation of America, and the art its citizens create. Multiple times, you communicated the difficulty of travel arrangements, and while I understand that, the reality is that we ended up with a syllabus dominated by the same kinds of people and that values stories written and focused on white Americans.

You continually used the phrase “left out” to describe my feelings about Christianity references and the content of my post, which trivializes and minimalizes the systemic erasure of stories by and about people of color and non-Christian folks. I didn’t just feel “left out.” I felt alienated by your syllabus and by your comments. I felt the toll of the institutional racism in your class.

3) Stop silencing race critical commentary

I sent you a discussion post that centered on race representation (or lack thereof) and you asked me why I didn’t discuss something I “really want to examine,” and something that would enable a “shrewd” essay in the future. You implied that I am not passionate about the topics I discussed and that questioning a class syllabus’s whiteness is not worth probing.

Your tone in the email indicated to me that you didn’t value the content of my post, you don’t seem to value critiques of your syllabus choices based on race. This clear devaluing of this topic did not motivate me to participate in class; after all, you pretty much indicated that what I wanted to discuss was a waste of everyone’s time.

4) Don’t tokenize your students: in this case, your students of color.

During a discussion about the second book when you defended your syllabus choices and explained the difficulty of travel arrangements, you articulated a situation in which you communicated with a black writer, but she wasn’t able to find a ride from the airport. You called me out and said, “Tanvi!” once again, mispronouncing my name, “I should have volunteered you to pick up [black writer’s name] at the airport!”

I don’t know if this was a defensive comment on your part, or you simply didn’t understand what you were saying, but this was hurtful. This instance represents one of the clearest instances of targeted racism I’ve ever experienced in a classroom. It is inappropriate to single out one of your only students of color who has raised questions about your syllabus and volunteer her for a task for which she’s not responsible.

I’m not sure how else to explain the extremely problematic nature of this instance. You may have been trying to “include” me in a class discussion, but I interpreted and experienced you tokenizing me for my brownness and my radical perspective.

I could not bear thinking about spending another day in that class. You humiliated me in front of my peers. Your comments contributed to the trauma of racism that I experience every day. While you seemed unaware, the emotional toll what you said in class overwhelmed me and forced me to leave class in order to recuperate, and eventually, leave your class permanently.

I’m sharing this with you so that you understand the problem that plagues the department, the school, and this whole country. This class is NOT the first class in which I’ve somehow felt tokenized and erased at the same time, not even the only one this semester.

While I don’t want to speak for others, I can say that instances like these affect students and their ability to excel, or even feel motivated in their academic environments. I’m tired of paying thousands of dollars every year to feel victimized and alienated in classrooms.”

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” is included in the writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves.

The post Decolonize Your Mind: Exhibit “Screw You” appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Racism is one of those topics that people want to slide under a rug and not talk about, withstanding workplace bias challenges. Usually, it’s white people. In general, white people aren’t aware of their own privilege simply because they don’t need to be. White people don’t have to face the racial discrimination that people of color have to deal with, and even those who are aware of their privilege don’t ‘help’ out people of color.

Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum writes in her article titled, “Defining Racism: ‘Can We Talk,'” that there are three forms of racism: active-racism, anti-racism, and passive-racism. She writes:

“I sometimes visualize the ongoing cycle of racism as a moving walkway at the airport. Active racist behavior is the equivalent to walking fast on the conveyor belt. The person engaged in active racist behavior has identified with the ideology of White supremacy and is moving with it. Passive racist behavior is equivalent to standing still on the walkway. No overt effort is being made, but the conveyor belt moves the bystanders along to the same destination of as those who are actively walking. Some of the bystanders may feel the motion of the conveyor belt, see the active racists ahead of them, and choose to turn around, unwilling to go to the same destination as the White supremacists. But unless they are walking actively in the opposite direction at a speed faster than the conveyor belt — unless they are actively anti-racist — they will find themselves carried along with the others.”

Active racism is behavior that would be deemed racist such as violence and overt discrimination. It’s typically fairly easy to see when someone exhibits racial behavior. These are the people who go out of their way to be racist.

Anti-racism is the exact opposite. These are the people who go out of their way to make a difference. To be different. They are the ones who are AWARE of their privilege and who do whatever they can to dismantle systematic racism. The reason these people are praised for supporting the ideas and general lives of people of color is that they are working AGAINST the system. They are going against social norms and everything that they have grown up listening to.

Finally, if you aren’t a racist who is happy for the oppression of minorities but you also aren’t doing anything to support them in escaping their oppression then you exhibit passive racism. Think back to the conveyor belt example. Just because you are facing in the opposite direction, you are still going in the same direction. You are still going the same direction as those who exhibit active-racism. Being aware of the system in which you benefit from and doing nothing about it doesn’t mean you are helping in any way. You are simply content with continuing to benefit from the oppression of others.

Choose which form of racism you want to exhibit. Putting the topic of racism underneath a rug is something we can’t do anymore. Something we should never have done. Racism is alive and that doesn’t change even though there are people who don’t believe that it still exists.

It’s obvious to see. We see it when a black football player exhibits his first amendment right and gets told to shut up and to be grateful for the fact the he was raised by white parents, we see it when unarmed black men are shot, and we see it EVERYWHERE. Racism exists wherever we look. From the people who insult and attack those of other races to the people who protest social inequality, and to the people who sit down and do nothing.

Who are you? A racist, a supporter of social equality, or someone who does nothing?

This is the tenth article of the column titled “Living in White America.” Every month there will be a new article discussing how minorities live in America. This column will have articles dealing with anything and everything that concerns the under-represented groups of White America. This could include political and social talks. Some articles may discuss cultures of different groups and interviews with a variety of people including those of the racial majority. Discrimination against everybody but the racial majority has gone on long enough and now it’s time people get a look into the worlds of those they dislike so much. 

The post Living in White America: Three Forms of Racism appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This month, like every other month, has brought a whole new set of experiences regarding microaggressions, racism, discrimination and tokenism in my life. However, I feel like people have been exceptionally passive lately. The more I converse with the people around me about the necessity of a revolution in the way we think and act, the more I realize that people speak such empty words about activism.

I’m being very vague. Let me provide you with some sobering, concrete examples.

Recently, I started reading a book for a class that CLAIMS to be “postcolonial,” despite assigning 5/6 novels by white women. So I’m reading this book, and the writer starts making really problematic comparisons between animals and people. She literally calls prairie dogs “the untouchables,” and she compares their existence to “fists raised to the sky,” unmistakable black power movement imagery. Before I got to page 100, I had marked ten instances that made included racist/problematic rhetoric.

I went to my professor’s office hours, and I explained to her why I didn’t want to finish the book. She acted very concerned but ended up saying really condescending things like “maybe you’ll get to the point where you can read this book in the future,” as if I wasn’t mature enough to read racist literature.

The most frustrating part of our meeting happened when I expressed frustration about problematic comments made in class that went unchecked, and she told me that she heard them too.

The gif accurately mirrors my reaction to her statement.

This is almost worse, now. You hear the comments. You understand the issues with them. Then, in a classic ignorant-white-person fashion, you decide on silence, passivity, and inaction. GREAT.

She even went as far as saying she didn’t want to be “confrontational” when responding to these ignorant comments.

I understand choosing the methods of communication carefully in order to maximize effectiveness. However, she has sacrificed a safe classroom and prioritized her own methods. Fine. If that’s the decision she has made, I suppose I’ll have to deal with it. But I won’t stay quiet in her class.

A few days later, I was sitting in my class about Renaissance literature, and my teacher insisted on analyzing the minute differences in each printing of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” I asked my professor if these differences had any meaning, since printing in the 1600s was a process prone to error. He admitted I was right. Victory.

Wrong. A girl sitting behind me said something about how it’s fair to critique the literary canon, but “don’t you read Shakespeare and think that he perfectly sums up the human experience?”

Shakespeare is a white man, and can only discuss his own experiences. He will never know what it’s like to be any other person in the whole world. When I explained this, some white guy shot back “it’s not about ra-”

“It’s not about race, it’s about being human.” I explained to him that the intention of eurocentric, patriarchal discourse is to make people think that the white man’s experience can extend to all; in reality, this ignores the nuance of nonwhite people and other diverse groups. I realized at one point in the “discussion,” I was sitting in the middle of the classroom with people from all corners of the room throwing shit towards me, discounting my words, invalidating my message.

I looked to my professor for affirmation, and he decided to change the fucking subject.

He didn’t even address anything I said, and just moved the fuck on.

His reaction was honestly worse than arguing against anything I had to say, because he gave me the impression that he could not care less. My words meant nothing, and he clearly did not want to waste time responding to me.

So I no longer participate in class.

Since April is Sexual Assault Activism Month, let’s talk about this school’s “activism.”

I’m tired of the “It’s On Us” campaign against sexual assault on college campuses. The empty slogan places the responsibility of prevention on bystander intervention, when most sexual assaults on our campus (and in general) happened in a residence hall or private housing situation, and by an acquaintance. Realistically, bystander intervention is not the most effective way to prevent these assaults.

It’s not on “us,” it’s on rapists and predators to NOT assault people. The university’s approach reflects an avoidance and misunderstanding of the nature of the problem, and they seem to just want students to take care of it themselves.

I’m done with people who knowingly hang out with rapists.

I’m so sick of the people around me choosing inaction.

I’m so frustrated with people who approach me after class to tell me they agreed with me, but didn’t actually speak up in class to support my ideas.

I’m tired of people who claim to understand racism and other forms of discrimination, and don’t speak out when they hear or see acts of prejudice.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, DAMMIT. BE PROACTIVE. MAKE THE CHOICE TO RESIST. 

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” is included in the writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This bimonthly column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves. 

The post Decolonize Your Mind: Passivity is NOT an Option appeared first on KRUI Radio.

As I began to take film classes in college, my initial ideas about what a documentary was were challenged. I began to see that documentaries, like any other kind of film, were constructed. And the stories they told were constructed, pieced and woven together very intentionally, and for a purpose. Just because you watched a documentary on a certain subject didn’t mean you now had a full or complete insight into all sides of the story. I even saw films that were open about their “not-realness” (Waltz with Bashir, Girl Rising, The War Game). And for a while, I was bitter and jaded towards documentaries. They were no longer the bastions of perfect knowledge and learning that I once thought they were, and for that I scorned them.

Documentaries and I have since patched things up a bit, and after a few weeks of sleeping on the couch I’ve been dipping my toe in the medium once again. Among these documentaries I’ve watched with a rejuvenated attitude is 2015’s Welcome to Leith. The film follows the story of Craig Cobb, a white supremacist and overall scumbag, and his attempt to take over the town of Leith, North Dakota, in order to turn it into a neo-Nazi commune. While a group of racist white people living together may not sound too out of the ordinary for some Midwestern small towns, Cobb and his crew were looking to take things to the next level.

The population of Leith, about 24 strong including children, were less than thrilled by their new neighbors, and banded together to save their town. Unfortunately, being racist and obnoxious isn’t enough in and of itself to get you arrested, and the local government had no choice but to uphold Cobb’s legal rights to buy and own land. The film captures the conflict between the townsfolk and the neo-Nazis from both sides, as things continue to boil up to a breaking point.

While it does offer insight into both groups, the film makes no qualms about what it thinks of Cobb and his fellow white supremacists. The artistic tone is paranoid and unstable throughout, with creepy canted angles, and time lapses of the deserted and lonely plains of North Dakota. You get a sense of isolation, and the fear of something happening is amplified by the fact that no one else is around for miles. These folks are on their own, and their deep fear seems relatively justified.

There are two main objects that people on both sides of the conflict use to both defend themselves, and attack each other: guns and cameras. In a strange way, both have become integral parts of the narratives of violence and conflict in the modern age. There are scenes of both Cobb and the townspeople showing off their weapons, fetishizing them as both a means of defense and a means of power; but they also know that cameras can perhaps be an even more powerful weapon. Each group constantly has lenses trained on the other, just waiting to capture the slightest infraction to legally justify violence. In one particularly interesting scene, a town hall meeting is disrupted by a standoff, with Cobb and his neighbor training the barrels of their cameras right at one another.

Welcome to Leith provides a frightening insight into some of the front lines of radical right-wing extremism. However, when watching something like this film, it’s important to remember that this not the extent of racism in America. It’s easy to plaster a face like Cobb’s on the term racism, and think that stopping extremists like him is enough to stop racism. But, racism is a large-scale system of oppression, and while people like Cobb are certainly worth fighting against, we can’t allow ourselves to think that is the extent of eradicating racism.

Click here to see if Welcome to Leith is playing in a theater near you. Check out the trailer for the film below:

The post Cinema Spotlight: Welcome to Leith appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are those of the writer, not KRUI.

“They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people.” These words were used to describe an entire ethnicity. They weren’t spoken by some random person on the street, they were spoken by someone who wants to be the President of the United States: Donald Trump, a reality TV Show host and a real estate tycoon.

In 15 words, he devalued every single hardworking Mexican. He spoke these words in the speech he used to announce his candidacy. In that same speech, Trump talked about how immigrants have no place here.

Since his birth, Trump has been surrounded by immigrants. Trump was born to the son of a German immigrant, and to a Scottish immigrant. Two of his wives are immigrants from the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Trump was born in the U.S., so upon his birth, he was automatically a citizen.

However, apparently that’s not important, because his mother’s skin was white. If immigration had shown up on her doorstep, the minute they saw her white face they would apologize and walk away. The lady with a brown face sitting on a bench? They would instantly walk up to her and assume she was illegal.

People say Trump is full anti-immigration, but I think he’s pro-immigration; ONLY if the immigrants look white. The reason being that he has a whole plan set up for immigration, but only for immigrants that come from Mexico.

His main points include building a wall and having Mexico pay for it and ending birthright citizenship. His flaw with ending birthright citizenship? Not only would I pack my bags and head to Mexico but Trump would have to buy a plane ticket and head to either Scotland or Germany. (Oh, and birthright citizenship is written into a little piece of paper called the Constitution.)

He says he wants to deport all illegal immigrants from the country. However, not all immigrants: just Mexicans. According to Trump,

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people.”

Trump only said Mexico, so it’s okay people from Central and South America. You can stay in the United States! You’re not from Mexico!

Right now, Mexico is still trying to get over the national embarrassment of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the drug lord who escaped from maximum security prison. Again. After his escape, Trump decided to give his opinion.

Trump is threatening a man who is feared by an entire country. Very smart. That’s what I want in a president. For him to provoke a drug lord and mass murderer. Trump is right in one thing: Mexico has drugs and drug cartels. It is precisely because of these drug cartels that people flee to the United States. They control Mexico’s government at the local and federal level.

On September 26th 2014, 43 college students were attacked by local police ordered by the local drug cartel. What has Mexico done? They covered it up and are still covering it up. (Geez, I wonder why people are fleeing.)

Ever since his speech in the summer, Trump has gone on to say even more ridiculous stuff. However, his supporters are just like him. Ignorant and aggressive. In fact, a Honduran man went with fellow Latinos to a Trump rally. His experience was captured.

His feelings at the Trump rally are what many immigrants feel in their own home country. Fear. Not only did Trump’s supporters get his home country wrong, one man spit on him because of the color of his skin. Ronald is from Honduras, which is separated from Mexico by an entire country. This man is not Mexican, he is Honduran. But to Trump’s supporters and to Trump this doesn’t matter. He is brown, therefore he is Mexican.

Our parents and our peers come to America not to steal jobs, not to make the economy worse, they come to escape. They are scared of stepping out into their street. They come so they don’t have to feel that emotion anymore.

I put out a study on Facebook and asked my peers to answer three simple questions: What their ethnicity was, the chances of them voting for Trump, and why they would or wouldn’t vote for him. I got 35 responses. Out of the 35 only 9 said they were either Hispanic or Latino. That didn’t surprise me. I was raised with the phrase, “Don’t say or do anything that will get you in trouble. Stay out of it.” The parents of Hispanic/Latino children are raised to avoid trouble, to not stick their neck out. This comes from their own fears of their childhood.

In the survey, 23 people said they were white. When I looked at the stats of their chances of voting for Trump I was definitely surprised.

Eighteen said there was no chance of them voting for Trump. Some of my favorite responses included:

“Garbage shouldn’t run for president.”

“This country would be a complete joke if Donald Trump became president.”

“Because he is insane and doesn’t actually have a solid plan for the nation and he’s racist and impulsive. He’d jump us into a nuclear holocaust 5 mins after being swore in.”

“Several reasons: 1. He’s racist af. 2. He’s sexist af. 3. He will single handedly burn this country to the ground. 4. Those creepy comments he made about his daughter. 5. I don’t trust his face. He looks like Peter Pettigrew, if Peter Pettigrew had become a billionaire running a rat mafia. 6. I made a vow that if Trump were to become president I was legitimately going to move out of the country and I’m currently a broke college student and I guarantee I will not have my life together enough to move out of Iowa let alone the US by 2016. 7. #Bernie2k16.”

“He’s a racist motherfucker that would ruin literally fucking everything.”

The rest of the reasons that people wrote went along these same lines. Not only do they think that Trump is racist, but they also consider him a joke. Some didn’t even mention his racist comments, they just don’t want him as president.

The Hispanics and Latinos that filled out the response all had similar thoughts. They wouldn’t vote for him because of what he said about us. “Us,” as in the entire ethnicity of both Hispanics and Latinos.

One Latino wrote, “He’s disrespectful. A leader doesn’t need to offend anyone, more importantly make anyone else seem like less to be a president. A president cares about every human. Doesn’t think of the innocent kids that he also puts down or most importantly, probably even scares. We’re all human. We all deserve respect.” The rest also wrote how they had no respect for him.

One thing that I found more surprising than anything else was that not one single Hispanic or Latino wrote a cuss word when writing their response. Their responses talked about being disrespected and how Trump was rude and condescending.

Going back to what I said before, Hispanics and Latinos are raised to stay out of it, avoid conflict, mind their own business. It is our greatest flaw. We don’t get involved. We don’t push. We keep our heads down, and do what we need to do. And yet we still get discriminated against. The vast majority of us are workers, doctors, teachers, lawyers, actors, singers, and students with no criminal record, but when just one Hispanic or Latino breaks the law, our entire race feels the repercussions. Suddenly, we are all criminals and need to go back from where we came from.

On November 7th, Donald Trump hosted Saturday Night Live. The live comedy show is known for making fun of things that normally wouldn’t be made fun of. While most of their shows laugh at politicians and celebrities and how they act, this one made fun of something else. It made fun of an ethnicity.

Leading up to the show, protesters began popping up. These protesters were Latinos. They weren’t happy that offensive comments made about them were about to be taken as a joke. They were about to be made of fun of on national television. They held up signs that read “Stop the Hate”, “#RacismIsntFunny”, and “#DumpTrump”.  They protested because the show wouldn’t be one rich white man hurling insults. . . It would be an entire cast of rich white people.

Trump’s monologue was the first thing that started off the show after the cold open. In it, he states that he can take a joke, makes fun of Rosie O’Donnell, and says hes rich, full of talent, and handsome.

The Latino protesters had said before the show that they would give $5,000 to anybody that called Trump a racist on the show. They weren’t joking and will give Larry David the money. While everybody considered it a joke, the Latino protesters did not. Trump called Mexicans criminals, but when the Latinos protested against him, they did nothing violent or criminal. They didn’t burn things, destroy things, or vandalize anything. It was a just a group of Latinos asking for respect. Latinos and Hispanics stay out of political issues and other things but when they do decide to stand up for themselves and ask for respect, they are taken as a joke.

This is important because Latinos and Hispanics are never taken seriously and in the words of John Leguizamo, a Colombian-born actor and producer, “This is celebrating somebody who, if he’d said those things about any other ethnic group, he would not be on SNL.” Sure, SNL is a comedy show and they can make fun of things that many wouldn’t, but I didn’t realize that that meant supporting racism.

This hurts because being Mexican isn’t just the color of your skin, or the place where you or your parents were born. Being Mexican is our identity. It is who we are. The reason the insults affect us so much is because we know we aren’t those things. We know that we are not rapists, drug dealers, or criminals. We are human beings.

I was born in America to Mexican parents. My entire life I have told people I am a Mexican-American. Mexican because of the blood that flows through my veins and American because this country is the only one I call home.

If Trump devaluing an entire ethnicity isn’t enough to convince you not to vote for him, then think of all the other communities he’s insulted. Women, other ethnic groups, and people with disabilities have also been insulted by a man who wants to be president and currently leading in the polls.

Donald Trump is a bully. He is not the type of man who we should have or want as president. All he has done so far is insult practically everyone expect for white supremacists. The only good thing that has come out of this is that Latinos and Hispanics have realized that they don’t want to be insulted anymore. They have decided it’s time they were given respect.

President Trump wouldn’t make America great. America isn’t perfect and she probably will never be, but it is our duty to get her as close to perfect as we can. Getting rid of racism would be a step in the right direction, and we can’t do that if our president is a racist. So please, DUMP TRUMP.

To read the first article of Living in White America click here.

This is the second article of the column titled “Living in White America.” Every month there will be a new article discussing how one immigrant group, Hispanics/Latinos, live in America. This column will have articles dealing with anything and everything that concerns Hispanics/Latinos, this could include political and social talks. Some articles may discuss a culture of a different Hispanic or Latino group and interviews with a variety of Hispanics/Latinos will be added as well as interviews with non-Hispanics/non-Latinos asking for their opinion. Discrimination against Hispanics and Latinos has gone on long enough and now it’s time people get a look into a world they dislike so much.

The post Living in White America: Dump Trump appeared first on KRUI Radio.