<p>I think I agree with quomodo. There can be valid reasons to consider the racial/ethnic make-up of a school. There are white students at HBCUs. There are white students who would refuse to attend an HBCU for no reason other than not wanting to be in a tiny minority, not because of prejudice against blacks, but becaues of fear they would find themselves isolated and ostracized. The same could apply for a white student who takes one look at UCLA or Berkeley and comes to the same conclusion. </p>
<p>I think a person can feel uncomfortable at the idea of being a member of a tiny minority without being a racist. Hopefully the white majority in this country can understand then, how a black American might hesitate at the idea of attending a college in Utah or Upper New England that has very few black students. That person isn’t racist; they’re afraid, not of physical harm but social isolation and ostracism because of perceived cultural differences or worries that the majority might be prejudiced against them. For the same reasons, I’m betting most white kids would feel little enthusiasm at the suggestion that they attend a college that was 95% black, even if that college was named MIT or Stanford. That wouldn’t make the kid a racist. It would mean the student has not had enough exposure to, or relationships with, different kinds of people.</p>
<p>Answer to the original question- No.
Agree with the two posts above. There are things/places I rule out for myself for similar reasons. I don’t consider myself a racist.</p>
But put it in context - the person you’re referring to didn’t indicate they’d feel uncomfortable at a school with a tiny percentage of their own race - they stated they’d feel uncomfortable at a school where they felt it being comprised of roughly 43% Asians was ‘too Asian’ for them - i.e. having 57% of the school comprised of something other than Asian wasn’t adequate for them.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t have a problem with people preferring to be with their own kind and would like to have the race/ethnic group question taken off the questionnaires and have students accepted by their grades and merits only. My grandson actually had an Asian student ask him if he was Jewish. He responded by asking the student why he asked. The Asian student replied that his father hated Jews. Hmm.</p>
<p>Would it be fair to break “racism” down into two main categories?</p>
<p>1) Bigotry (thoughts and words?)
2) Discrimination (words and actions?)</p>
<p>Maybe we can be more precise by using those two words instead of “racism” to cover everything, since it seems there is variance on the accepted definition of racism.</p>
<p>This is surely not a new concept… just thinking out loud.</p>
<p>You guys are reviving a thread that last posted 4 years ago. It would be better if you wanted to discuss this to start a new thread. Things have changed enough in 4 years to merit a fresh thread if you think this is interesting.</p>