<p>Students at San Jose State University were grappling on Friday with accusations that three white students repeatedly abused a black freshman verbally and physically, calling him names referring to slavery and putting a bicycle lock around his neck.</p>
<p>I saw this yesterday. The article I read said that racial incidences are on the rise at PWI’s across the country. I am not surprised as I’ve also read that outside of college there has been an uptick in racial issues in many places since Barack Obama was elected. </p>
<p>The racial climate, and what the schools do about it, will be part of what we look at if D applies to any non-HBCU’s.</p>
<p>As an African-American parent, I cannot find the words to begin to describe how I feel about the bullying, physical abuse, and mental abuse this child suffered through as “pranks” by student(s) with Nazi propaganda dressing their dorm walls.</p>
<p>Yes, it is really beyond terrible. In addition to the physical stuff (chains? OMG!) the language and metaphors that the white boys used are just evil.</p>
<p>Considering all that transpired, I’m wondering why they’re only being charged with misdemeanors. There’s at least one incident of a serious physical assault putting a bike lock around the victim’s neck. He could have died from that if the assault had gone worse. </p>
<p>Interesting the 3 alleged perpetrators said they “weren’t racists” and their actions were “pranks”. Wonder what kinds of parents they had to make them believe their behavior and levels of lying/minimization are acceptable. </p>
<p>Sorry, but alleged/convicted perpetrators don’t get to determine what’s racist and what’s not especially when arguing the latter is in their personal legal interest .</p>
<p>Agree, cobrat. It is reprehensible. </p>
<p>I am surprised this story is not generating nearly the amount of attention as the University of Alabama sorority case in which alumnae discriminated against prospective members on the basis of race. This is far worse and is the work of current students, not past ones.</p>
<p>It’s not sexy. Sorority girls are sexy. Also, it appears to be the act of a few sickos, rather than a systemic, organized thing. It is, however, appalling indeed. That poor kid.</p>
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<p>SJSU is not a predominantly white institution; its undergraduate students are only 25% white (and the city of San Jose is only 29% (NH) white). Why those bigots decided to attend SJSU is something one can only speculate about.</p>
<p>[San</a> Jose State University Students - CollegeData College Profile](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg06_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=768]San”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg06_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=768)</p>
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<p>Probably because the suspects have been arrested and suspended, and do not have any significant power or political support on campus or in the local community, unlike the sororities at UA.</p>
<p>Since SJSU is a very racially diverse campus I wonder why the accused would choose to attend as they obviously are racists. It’s hard to believe they would even try to justify their actions. Since there were apparently 8 roommates in the suite, it sounds as if several of those who were not charged still did nothing to stand up for that poor kid while all of this was going on. That’s almost as bad as actively participating in my mind! I can’t imagine what that kid went through- it must have been terrifying.</p>
<p>Here is the police report:</p>
<p>[Police</a> Report: Read San Jose State University Police account of dorm hate crime allegations - San Jose Mercury News](<a href=“Police Report: Read San Jose State University Police account of dorm hate crime allegations – The Mercury News”>Police Report: Read San Jose State University Police account of dorm hate crime allegations – The Mercury News)</p>
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<p>Could be: four bullies, one victim, three others afraid to do anything out of fear of becoming the next victim.</p>
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<p>I agree, and assault was involved, which is even more horrible. The media and lots of people (including many on CC) give far more attention to any story about racist incidents that occur in the South than they do to the same type or worse racist incidents that occur in the rest of the country. The Southern incidents feed into their portrayals of the South, whereas they tend to treat incidents from the Northeast, West, or Midwest as aberrations.</p>
<p>Racist behavior is reprehensible, no matter where it occurs, and it happens in places all over the country. Fortunately, most Americans are far past that, especially the younger generation, where even former taboos such as interracial dating have come down. (In my children’s high school, it is more the norm than the exception, and there are lots of biracial students.) The types of people who behave as the San Jose students did are usually not only racist, they are angry in general and probably inclined to be violent toward women, gay people, and just about anyone else they don’t like or look down on. Unfortunately, racist (or sexist or homophobic) behavior will always be around as long as there are people who, as my parents would say, are “mean as a snake”.</p>
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<p>Maybe to the news media. 
To those of us who avoided any part of Greek life while in college, sorority girls and fraternity boys were anything but.</p>
<p>Sounds like a mob mentality prevailed among the malevolent suite-mates. Some folks do things while part of a mob that they would never think of doing on their own. We all know this is especially true of young people.</p>
<p>As for the bewilderment about why young racists would attended a school with a large non-white population. Well, hooligans from the outer neighborhoods of New York City still come to Greenwich Village in Manhattan occasionally to harass and attack gay folks. Hard to believe but true.</p>
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<p>That might be insulting to snakes… in any case, there is also plenty of mean and nasty behavior that isn’t racist or otherwise hot-button (see the threads on bullying and other conflicts).</p>
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<p>The portrayals of the south is well-earned from very recent past history of Jim Crow* and continuing documented incidents such as the dragging death of James Byrd in Texas. </p>
<p>[James</a> Byrd?s killer: ‘I?d do it all over again’ | khou.com Houston](<a href=“http://www.khou.com/news/The-Texas-murder-that-shook-America--130176288.html]James”>http://www.khou.com/news/The-Texas-murder-that-shook-America--130176288.html)</p>
<p>However, racism isn’t exclusive to the south either as shown by the fact there were sundown towns in many other parts of the country, the state with the most registered KKK members at their height of national popularity in the 1920’s wasn’t in the South(Ohio), and continuing racist incidents nationwide.</p>
<p>Regarding California, it’s interesting to consider that one of the towns one of the alleged perpetrators came from, Bakersfield, is known as one of the most conservative cities in the nation, had a KKK presence in all levels of part of that city in the recent past**, and the majority of its voters voted for Proposition 8 which eliminates marriage rights for gay/lesbian couples hoping to tie the knot. </p>
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<li>Interracial marriage was still officially illegal in many southern states and some school districts weren’t desegregated until the late '60s.<br></li>
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<p>** [The</a> Kern County Klan Local KKK members, including Bakersfield’s … - BakersfieldCalifornian.com](<a href=“http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/opinion/hot-topics/x213982303/The-Kern-County-Klan-Local-KKK-members-including-Bakersfields-police-chief-were-outed-90-years-ago]The”>http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/opinion/hot-topics/x213982303/The-Kern-County-Klan-Local-KKK-members-including-Bakersfields-police-chief-were-outed-90-years-ago)</p>
<p>The three named suspects are from Bakersfield, Clovis, and Woodacre.</p>
<p>Bakersfield and Clovis are in the Central Valley. Bakersfield has lower median income, and is 39% NH white and 46% Latino. Clovis (a suburb of Fresno) has higher median income, and is 57% NH white and 26% Latino.</p>
<p>[Bakersfield</a> (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau](<a href=“http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0603526.html]Bakersfield”>http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0603526.html)
[Clovis</a> (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau](<a href=“http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0614218.html]Clovis”>http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0614218.html)</p>
<p>Woodacre is in unincorporated Marin County. It has high median income and is 92% NH white.</p>
<p>[American</a> FactFinder - Results ](<a href=“http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_DP_DPDP1]American”>http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_DP_DPDP1)
[American</a> FactFinder - Results ](<a href=“http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_5YR_DP03]American”>http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_5YR_DP03)</p>
<p>Hometown of the fourth suspect and the victim have not been mentioned, since they are reportedly under 18.</p>
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<p>And to be fair, it should also be noted that one of the perps hails from Marin County, one of the most liberal (and wealthy) counties in the nation…</p>
<p>I think the takeaway is that is doesn’t matter where they are from. Racists can be born and bred anywhere. My D ran into racist kids in one of the more allegedly progressive schools around here. I have a racist, homophobic sibling and a very accepting sibling. I’ve got non-racist friends in the deep south, and former racist friends in areas generally thought of as non-racist. You can’t point to an area and say, “well, THAT explains it!”</p>
<p>I’m glad these kids are being called on their behavior. I’m sure plenty of people will say that they were “only joking” and that the victim is “too sensitive”. Our family is familiar with that tactic.</p>
<p>I think that when a lot of non-Californians think of California in terms of the larger metropolitan areas; Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, etc. It’s sometimes hard to remember that a sizeable portion of Californians live in very rural, small towns in agricultural areas. The drive from Los Angeles to the Bay Area is a 5 hour drive through very lightly populated dairies and farms/ranches. Many of these areas are predominantly white with a large migrant worker population. They tend to be pretty conservative and not always very open-minded about other cultures/life styles (obviously not everyone is like that, but there is that tendency. California is a very diverse state socially and economically, and I am quite sure there are areas here that would rival the “reputation” of the South for racial incidents.</p>
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<p>The also-documented torture and murder of Matthew Shepard took place in Wyoming. Does that mean the West is a hotbed of homophobia? James Byrd and Matthew Shepard were murdered by horrible people full of hate, but those people were not representative of the parts of the country in which they lived any more than the 9/11 terrorists were representative of Muslim people in the United States.</p>
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<p>Things have changed tremendously since then. Huff Post lists the top twenty states for interracial dating and eight of those states are in the South. [Top</a> 20 States For Interracial Dating (INFOGRAPHIC)](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Top 20 States For Interracial Dating (INFOGRAPHIC) | HuffPost Voices) I can’t vouch for the accuracy of that list, but I have observed that interracial dating and marriage around here (North Carolina – #6 on the list) are common and are not a big deal for the vast majority of people. Even when I was a child and black-white marriages were extremely rare, white-Asian married couples were not uncommon and a number of my friends were biracial. As for school segregation, much of the worst segregation now is in Northern cities. It may not be part of the law, but it is there through school districting, white flight, and private school options.</p>
<p>No region of the country can claim the higher ground on race relations. There has been a lot of progress, though, and the younger generation is so much more enlightened on race than my generation or any previous generations.</p>