A students perspective on Race, Racism and the University

Student Perspective on Race, Racism and the University at Nierma Conference
At the close of the panel, one Black Brazilian student, stated that she was graduating next year in history and she was disappointed that African history and Afro-Brazilian history has been excluded from their curriculum. She wanted to know how do they see this as problem given a federal law has required schools teach the material. While I expected to get a colorful response from all the panelist, only one panelist responded. He stated that this is her role as student to create the knowledge for people to learn and not look to the university for facilitating that development. This response has a dual meaning that the student has responsibility to create the knowledge about a specific area, however the more troubling meaning is the statement about the inability of the university to develop the curriculum. This leads me to believe that while the university is accepting Black students, they are not necessarily apart of the curriculum. As a result of this response I was eager to meet with her. My peer and I approached her to gain a better understanding of the Afro-Brazilian student experience given it would be impossible to find a book about a current student perspective. The students highlighted that the university has begun to use affirmative action policies to admits more Black students, however they fail to change the culture of African exclusion in the university in hiring of faculty and the curriculum. This comment reflects a problem in which access to higher education is not achieved with only admitting afro descendants in the university. To only admit students without changing the environment and the development of knowledge does not do enough for the educational attainment of group. After this conference, I approached her. This is when I realize the language barrier would play a role in me understanding her experience. However, I was lucky this time, when one her friends spoke English. This was a blessing. I began to have a conversation, and Melissa and other joined to discuss their experience in the university. They told us that students wrote on the walls in the bathroom, “that we have to get rid of blacks”. This racial hostility is not shocking, but a direct contradiction of the statemetns about racial harmony and interaction in the conference we just left. In fact, one of the recurring themses throughtout the panel was black and whites get along socially, unlike the United States, therefore racism doesn’t exist. This story from the student runs afoul of his argument that horizontal social relationships negate racism. In fact, this student’s story presents a great example that social interaction does not negate racism, if anything it hides racial discrimination.