"In most respects, the roommate-wanted notice seemed routine. Three students at the Claremont colleges in Southern California were looking for a fourth this summer to join them in an off-campus house. They added a caveat in parentheses: ‘POC only,’ they said, using a common abbreviation for people of color.
Kare Urena, a student at Pitzer College Pitzer student Karé Ureña. When a classmate challenged that condition, the Pitzer College student who posted the notice on Facebook pushed back. “It’s exclusive [because] I don’t want to live with any white folks,” wrote Karé Ureña, who is black." …
However, it is not surprising, other than the fact that they openly said it. I would not be surprised if this type of thing went on a lot (likely more commonly excluding non-white people than white people, due to numbers at many colleges and non-college places) but quietly and covertly, much like other kinds of racial discrimination in housing.
So does this mean he is a Black Supremacist? Seems he needs a lesson in the greatness of diversity. Imagine if a white student did this, with a “whites only” approach.
Anyways, this is just one individual, or maybe 3 or 4 if they are all in agreement. It doesn’t say anything about general attitudes or racism in general any more than one racist white person does about all white people.
@marvin, that’s bs. On average, blacks may have less power but on individual level some blacks have more power than whites. Black employers discriminating against white applicants is not racism? The same for refusing housing based on race.
Racism among minority against other minority or whites goes unchecked and as a result it is more common than among whites.
When I’m pulled over by a cop, the worst thing I’m worried about is ending up with points on my license and higher insurance bills as a result.
When a black man is pulled over by a cop, the worst thing he’s worried about is being killed during the interaction with the police officer.
Until we live in a society where this kind of drastic inequity no longer exists, I’m hesitant to hold different racial groups to the same standards, simply because they live such utterly different lives.
"When I’m pulled over by a cop, the worst thing I’m worried about is ending up with points on my license and higher insurance bills as a result.
Perhaps depending on how you handle the situation and what you are being pulled over for.
When a black man is pulled over by a cop, the worst thing he’s worried about is being killed during the interaction with the police officer."
This is true but the exception not the rule. The vast majority of black men pulled over for standard traffic stops are not killed during the interaction. We will likely hear about the majority of incidents where this happens.
One could argue that for a black person the most likely thing he would be worried about if he were to be walking around in a predominately white neighborhood is that he would be stared at and perhaps stopped and questioned. For a white person to be walking around in a predominately black neighborhood that he would be killed. The difference is, for making your observations no one will be called racist, for making mine I might be. Both claims are just as valid. I think it is the same way with the student at Pitzer. If you were to reverse the scenario with a white student placing the same ad requesting no black students the same prejudice applies. They are assuming a particular behavior based on the persons race not on their individual character. I believe that is the very thing Martin Luther King was preaching against.
@marvin100 I accept your definition of racism, but I have a question about the context of the word “power”.
In this sense, do the three existing roommates have the power to choose their fourth? It appears that the answer would be yes. Privilege-they are attending the Claremont Colleges (which, if I understand it is prestigious), so they have both of those elements strictly with respect to this situation.
So my question is, do those two elements need to exist within a situation to define racism, or is it a larger social application only?
And if so, how would you define the roommates’ behavior? If they’re not racist, what are they? Mean girls?
I generally hear this only when someone tries to justify his/her own bigotry or that of political allies.
If someone is that much of a bigot, should others direct their efforts to keep him/her powerless and unprivileged, so that s/he cannot become “racist” by this definition? Or direct their efforts against the bigotry instead?
Also, low SES white people without significant personal privilege or power cannot be “racist” by this definition.
In the US, racism by white people against non-white people is more common than the other way around, because there are more white people than non-white people.
In college my roommate and I had a black roommate. He was a good friend. One semester he decided to move out and live with another guy, a fellow african american. The reason: he couldn’t stand our music and food, lol!!
So, he moved out. Guess what, we were still good friends. I think he just felt more comfortable living with the other guy. Was he racist. Hell no. We were friends. He just wanted to live with someone he could to relate to more.
I’m pretty sure that’s what the 3 students were trying to accomplish. I don’t think they meant to be racists, ha.
I guess I can see if the tables were reversed this might be taken the wrong way, but I think people need to lighten up a bit and just roll with it and try to get along.
I don’t have a problem if people want to live with people with of similar commonalities, etc. Agree with @RightCoaster that we need to just roll with stuff sometimes.
That being said, we do have fair housing laws and we should do our best to follow the law. But maybe we all need to stop assuming the worst about each other?
“This is true but the exception not the rule. The vast majority of black men pulled over for standard traffic stops are not killed during the interaction. We will likely hear about the majority of incidents where this happens.”
Another difference however is that the person of color is often being pulled over for ZERO reason. A white person does not experience that as much at all. Living in a multiracial family, I’ve seen the range of treatment by police.
Just to clarify, roommates are allowed to discriminate in whatever ways they want. Landlords, in most circumstances, cannot discriminate by race.
This made up post is a-ok under California law:
“Wanted: One white, straight, childless, unmarried, Christian woman (no disabilities please) to share a two bedroom apartment with me. Cost is about $800 per room, utilities separate”
This post is absolutely discriminatory:
“Two bedroom apartment for rent. $1600/ month, utilities not included. Will only consider non white applicants, ideally those without children.”
Seems he needs a lesson in the greatness of diversity. Imagine if a white student did this, with a “whites only” approach.