Perspectives on Race

Even though UF has a diverse student body, where is the diversity in the faculty and staff? I have only had a few instructors that were minorities and I have yet to have a Black female as a professor. I remember reading in the alligator awhile back that a former woman professor here at the University was fired, and she wanted to sue the school for discrimination. This incident and what I see on a daily basis makes me question if UF really is diverse.

I once read a debate about why Black Entertainment Televison (BET) exists. The author stated that there was no need for BET, and it made Black people seem hypocritical since Black people want integration, but having a seperate network does not promote that. I agree that having BET is not promoting the idea of integration, but at the same time there really aren’t that many Black shows on any other networks. Most of the Black sitcoms such as Girlfriends and Everybody Hates Chris, have been canceled. The re-runs to these shows and others come on BET. People propose that BET be eliminated but they don’t take into consideration the fact that other networks need to start showing more shows that include a African American cast.

As much as we try to believe that America has come a long way as far as racism is concerned, we still have a long way to go. I was bored one day and way just browsing through groups on facebook when I discovered this group called F**k the Haiti Earthquake. The group consists of people who believe that donating money to Haiti is unnecessary. I have never seen so much ignorance in one spot. In fact, the group made me sick to my stomach. One person wrote on the wall “Great group guys. Haiti relief is such a bunch of bulls**t. The money could be spent better over here.” It’s groups like these that show we need to be addressing racial issues, so that hateful groups like these don’t continue to be created.

As a Black woman I am so tired of seeing negative stereotypes in the media. I just want to take the time out and rant about the ones that I always see. First off, all Black woman are not video vixens. We all don’t walk around half naked, trying to come up with ways to get close to rich and successful men. Secondly, we all do not fit the “angry black woman” stereotype. We aren’t always ready to go off on someone, and when we do get angry, we aren’t going to roll our neck and snap our fingers. Lastly, we all are not “baby mamas” the woman that are seen on Maury are just girls that made some bad decisions, and shouldn’t be viewed as a direct reflection of what all Black women do.

Every time that I go home and reunite with family friends, or people that I haven’t seen in a long time, they always ask me what college I attend. I will never forget the time that I told one of my mother’s friends that I went to the University of Florida. She scrunched her face up as if she smelled something foul. She asked me did I like it there and why I didn’t attend a HBCU such as Bethune Cookman University or Florida A&M University. I told her that UF was a terrific school and I just felt that it was a better fit for me. I felt as though my mother’s friend thought that I was some sort of traitor because I did not want to attend a HBCU. This is sometimes the case in the Black community, where African Americans believe that students should go to an HBCU vs a PWI because they feel that they would get a better understanding of Black History. I personally feel that schools should be as diverse as possible and that is one of the reason why I came to the University of Florida.

I know that stereotypes play a role in how America views people of different races, but it always bothered me when people made the comment “you’re acting white” because I spoke with proper diction and didn’t use slang. I understand that Black people use slang, just as people of any other race do, but speaking properly shouldn’t only be associated with one race. There are educated people of all races, and I feel that the media should try to portray that so that people can stop only associating white people with speaking proper English.