"Those white people…"

This story comes from a Caucasian female. She was eating in our very own University Center, minding her own business. Then, she overheard a comment coming from a group of Asian girls sitting nearby. In a normal tone of voice, one of the girls made a remark against talking to white girls. Just sitting feet away, this Caucasian girl was miffed. From this experience, she realized that even a Caucasian individual living in a predominately white area could be racially discriminated against.

"What are they saying?"

This story is from a Caucasian female. This event occurred during her freshmen orientation week. During this week, H&SS students were broken up into groups (by alphabetical order, according to surname) and taken to several mini-lectures ranging from study tips and things to expect upon entering college. Interestingly, she happened to be placed with many Asian students. She was completely fine with this. However, when they started conversing in their own language, she suddenly felt very intimidated and very out of place.



"Watch out for that black guy!"

An African American sophomore told us his story. He is a Drama major in Carnegie Mellon and lives in Cathedral Mansions. He believes that the African American population at CMU is greatly underrepresented. He feels that there needs to be more action taken to reach kids "like himself" to get them interested in the school that he, for the most part, is proud to say he attends. Because of the lacking of African American students, he believes that this is a problem mainly for students who come to school from overseas. There was an incident where he had been seen as a dangerous man just because he was black. He was walking down a street and these two white girls had been walking towards him. As soon as the girls saw him, they became quiet and intimidated. As for him, he really hated that feeling because it was his color of skin that scared them not anything else.


"Black table"

This African-American male was at Carnegie Mellon University’s football camp before classes began. Apparently, on the first day of camp most of the black members of the football team sat together during lunch at the Highlander. He did not even realize that this had transpired until about halfway through the meal when he looked around. Although he believes that none of the black players made a real conscious effort to form their own "black table," he said that this is common occurrence at CMU when a small number of blacks are intermixed into a larger group of people who are all unfamiliar with each other. However, he also commented that this "black table" more or less disappeared once the team members all got to know each other better. Still, it seemed that most blacks had "best friends" on the team who were also black.


"What’s wrong with those white kids?"

This African-American female was accustomed to hanging out with other blacks in high school. Yet such a minority group here at CMU, she is often inclined to "hang out" with whites, since they seem to have more in common with her than the other racial groups (i.e. Asians, Indians) on campus. For example, in her Interpretation and Argument class, the students seemed to divide themselves rather obviously into a seating arrangement that included an unofficial white side of the room and an Asian side of the room. Being the only black person in the class, the female felt more comfortable sitting with the white students. She did admit, however, that part of this feeling might have been based upon the fact that the white kids "just talked much more," which she also likes to do.


"What is wrong with her?"

An African-American sophomore shared an incident that occurred in her freshman year. Having entered CMU, she found herself hanging out with mostly black people during first semester. However, when she started to become friendlier with some of the white crowd in her dorm, she began to feel ostracized from the people in the black community. Today, she remains friends with primarily Caucasians and finds that she can only relate to a few black people on campus. She definitely feels hanging out with people of different races is "taboo" with most blacks feeling a need to "stick together."


"Is there any qualification for race?"

In the beginning of the year, this African-American freshman had a serious problem with her Caucasian roommate. She felt that a majority of the people on her floor dismissed her complaints and sided with her roommate more. While she is not accounting this to race, this difference stays in the back of her mind and makes her see things "clearer." From New York and a first generation African American, she experienced a drastic change with now being around only a handful of African people. She likes her Caucasian friends, but "it’s like I have to almost qualify myself to [some] of my white friends, and I don’t feel that way with African people… I see them get slightly uncomfortable, and that makes me get uncomfortable."


"Only Asians"

A Caucasian American attended a TSA party with an Asian friend, but once at the event, felt very out of place. He was only one of the few white people in that party. To him, the names of such organizations intimidate people; when they throw a party, people think it is an Asian-only party and assume they are not going to be comfortable. Thus, most non-Asians do not even attend.


"Asian Student Association, what do you say?"

During the first week of his freshman year, this Asian American male was eating at Highlander Café with his Caucasian friend. When an upperclassman Asian American acquaintance bumped into him, he joined them for dinner. But as soon as he sat down, the conversation was launched into a lengthy promotion of the campus’s Asian Student Association. This upperclassman acquaintance explained all the merits and benefits of joining this association and entreated him to come to an organizational meeting. While the Asian American freshman listened politely to the "sales pitch," he felt uncomfortable at ignoring his Caucasian friend. Shortly thereafter, both freshmen left. Because of his physical appearance, this Asian American freshman felt stereotyped; he was expected to have certain values when in truth, he feels little connection to his culture.


"Southerner, can you say KKK?"

This Jewish female grew up in Alabama and feels stereotyped about both of these characteristics. She recalled one time she got into an argument with a few of her friends about the Confederate Flag. To her, the flag represents Southern pride, not hate or disrespect to the US like her friends argued. In that argument, she feels they ganged up on her in an "anti-Southern" manner. She wishes people would stop making redneck comments. When people mock her accent or blatantly ask questions about KKK rallies and hate crimes, she feels distanced. People expect her to say she hates the South because of her Jewish heritage. Although she admits to having seen some poor treatment of minorities, she feels people are overly critical of the South. As she said, "There are ignorant people all over this country, but people on campus seem to think it’s only in the South."


"Those non-Christians…"

This is the story of a Protestant male. He holds his Christian values as a high priority in his daily life. Yet it is this priority that sets him apart from most people and causes many conflicts everyday. When he hangs out with his non-Christian friends, he feels that they discuss very trivial issues. However, when he hangs out with his Christian friends, he feels that he can discuss his problems with them because they understand that he relates them to his religion. Also, he feels that non-Christians can influence him in a negative way, but it is very hard to influence them in a positive way. Because of these reasons, he finds that it is the easy way out to surround himself with only Christians.


"Membership Required"

An African American student in the College of Technology found it to be difficult to tell her friends about the residence hall she lived in. The student lives in a hall called "The Spirit House" which is primarily for African American students. The student realized that her white friends were very surprised to learn that she lived in this particular residence hall. She found that her friends were not interested in visiting her at her residence hall because they seemed to think they were unwelcome while she tried to encourage them to visit her. The student came to the conclusion that students believe that any ethnic or racial organizations seem to ward off anyone who is not a member of that ethnicity or race.


"The Title Means Everything"

An Asian female student discussed her feelings on different support groups on campus and how they may create a sense of voluntary segregation. The student felt that the names of the support groups in particular led to voluntary segregation. For example, she thought that the name Asian Students Association seemed intimidating. However, she thought that she would be more comfortable attending a meeting if the group was called "International Student Organization." The name of the organization was important to the student because it has a large effect on the comfort level students feel in the meetings.


"The Greek Divide"

From the beginning of school, one Asian American student knew that he wanted to be a part of Greek life on campus. During rush time, the Asian Student Association on campus was also recruiting the student. When the Asian organization found out that the student was rushing for a fraternity, the supposedly friendly organization turned quite cold and the student felt very uncomfortable with the organization. The student felt that the organization was constructing borders and segregation instead of helping to break it down.


"The Lack of Biracial Friendships"

A white male, used to making friends from all backgrounds and races finds it difficult to have friends from different races on campus. He feels that there is tolerance on campus for different races, but he senses tension and biracial relationships are not frequent. The student remembers entering a room of an Asian friend and feeling uncomfortable being the only white person in the room. He felt the usual tension between the Asian group and himself and found this disconcerting.


"Do You Deserve This Music?"

An Asian male who was very interested in hip hop music was playing his music when his roommate’s white friend stopped by. The white friend told the student to turn his music down and that he should not be listening to hip-hop anyway because he did not "represent." The Asian student was hurt by the stereotype and he wondered why the white student had the right to listen to hip-hop if the Asian student could not. The Asian student believes that everyone has the freedom to listen to whatever music they desire.